Trucker admits causing death of Yorkshire PC in M1 horror

But Leeds Crown Court heard how it has still not been established why Andrew Abernethy’s truck left the M1, near Wakefield, trapping Pc Mark Goodlad between his police car and another vehicle.

Prosecutors said the incident showed classic signs of being a “sleep-related” collision but investigators found no evidence Abernethy had worked excessive hours or not slept.

The court heard that the defendant maintains he was distracted because he had a pain in his eye.

Abernethy, 45, of Rembrandt Walk, Oldham, today admitted causing death by dangerous driving.

He was driving an orange Scania articulated lorry which hit a marked BMW X5 police car and a grey Suzuki Swift on the southbound carriageway of the M1, near the village of Crigglestone, on October 24 last year.

The police car and the Suzuki were both stationary on the hard shoulder and officers said Pc Goodlad, 41, was between the two vehicles, helping the 51-year-old woman who had been driving the Suzuki. The woman suffered minor injuries in the incident.

Abernethy will be sentenced next month.

Andrew Dallas, prosecuting, told the court that Abernethy told police at the time of the incident that the collision happened because he had sudden pain in his eye.

He said he repeated this explanation to interviewing officers and a nurse.

But Mr Dallas said: “The vehicle behaved in a classic sleep-related manner, which is drifting off the road at the end of a very long gradual bend.”

The prosecutor also said there was an “inherent improbability of the eye distraction representing the whole explanation for this”.

But the court heard that Abernethy was only one hour into his shift and had not driven at work in the previous three days.

Mr Dallas said: “It does have some but not all of the factors that circumstantially point towards it being sleep-related - or it could be something else altogether.”

He said the investigation had uncovered no evidence “that conclusively demonstrates why he left the carriageway”.

Gary Woodhall, defending, told the court that his client had not had any sleep-related problems or done anything to make him sleepy.

Judge Scott Wolstenholme was asked to consider whether he could sentence Abernethy without resolving the issue about why the collision happened.

The judge said he would consider whether a trial of issue was needed but fixed a sentencing date for November 22 at Bradford Crown Court.

He asked for a pre-sentence report to be prepared.

Judge Wolstenholme told Abernethy: “It’s going to be the court’s duty to pass a custodial sentence, the length to be determined on November 22.”

Abernethy stood in the dock wearing a navy blue T-shirt and navy blue trousers. He was given conditional bail.

Pc Goodlad, from Goole, East Yorkshire, had been an officer with West Yorkshire Police for 10 years.

His widow, Helen, watched from the public gallery in court today.

He also left a teenage son, Ben.

Hundreds of people turned out for the officer’s funeral in November last year.

West Yorkshire Police Chief Constable Sir Norman Bettison told the service at Wakefield Cathedral: “He stands for what is best in all of us.

“We shouldn’t define heroes by the way they die but recognise them instead by the way they lived their lives.

“On that basis, Mark is a hero.”