PC Dave Phillips trial - accused was a "lost little boy"
Court hears accused was just a "lost little boy'' who needed a "cuddle'' from his gran,
A teenage car thief who mowed down and killed a policeman in a stolen pick-up truck while out on licence from jail was just a lost little boy'' who needed a "cuddle'' from his gran, he told a court.
Clayton Williams, 19, said after hitting and killing Pc Dave Phillips, 34, he cried, felt scared and lost, and called his grandmother because he needed someone to talk to.
Williams also agreed he fled the scene, dumped the vehicle, had a shower, got rid of his clothes which were burnt and gave his phone away in the aftermath of the fatal collision before answering no comment'' to police questions.
The defendant, 18, at the time, denies murdering father-of-two Pc Phillips, who was deploying a stinger device in Wallasey, Merseyside to stop Williams, who had taken police on an 80mph pursuit after stealing a Mitsubishi pick-up truck in a burglary in the early hours of October 5, last year.
It is alleged in a "merciless and cowardly act'' and he deliberately drove at the officer using the vehicle as a "weapon''.
PC Phillips was killed almost instantly from "catastrophic'' injuries.
Williams, who said he has used cannabis since the age of six, denies murder, and told the jury he had no intention of harming anyone but was trying to drive round the stinger spikes when he hit the officer at between 50 and 80mph.
He had been released on license from jail three weeks earlier after serving half of a nine months sentence, for leading police on another pursuit in a car and crashing into a lamppost.
Williams said he fled police for fear of being returned to jail and maintains he did not see Pc Phillips crouching to deploy the stinger until the last seconds when he jumped up like a jack in the box'' before he hit him. Ian Unsworth QC, prosecuting accused Williams of lying and that the officer was "clearly visible'' to him, shown on video footage to the jury captured by a pursuing police car behind the stolen pick-up.
Williams, who appeared to choke back tears, said seconds after hitting the officer, he tried to phone Shirley Williams, his grandmother.
He said: "I just needed someone in my family to cuddle up to.''
"You wanted a cuddle?'' Mr Unsworth said. "Yeh,'' replied the defendant.
He continued: I'm only a young boy. I have not got it in me to take someone's life. You are making me out to be something I'm not.
"I was scared. I needed someone, I needed my nan or someone" I have done wrong things. I know I'm a better person, just in the wrong community.
"Try being in my shoes. It's hard being chased and just come out of jail.''
Williams fled the scene, dumped the car, and went to an aunt's house where he showered, told friends to get rid'' of his clothes and put fresh ones on.
But he denied "trying your best'' to remove any connection between himself and the vehicle. Mr Unsworth asked the defendant why he did not turn himself in.
Williams said: "I didn't know who to contact. At the time I just felt like a lost little boy. I just needed someone to talk to.''
He added that a friend told him 'you need a decent solicitor on a case like this' so he called a law firm recommended to him.
But after calling the solicitor armed police arrived and arrested him.
"They just kept calling me a scumbag,'' Williams said.
At that point a man in the public gallery above the court shouted down to the defendant: "If it was up to me you would be strung up. You should rot in hell for killing Pc Phillips.''
Trial Judge Mr Justice William Davis told him: "I don't know who you are but you are about to be arrested for contempt of court. Officers arrest that man.''
Addressing the jury he added: "I'm sorry about that, I have not the remotest idea who that was.''
The hearing at Manchester Crown Court was then adjourned.
Williams has admitted the burglary where the car was stolen and aggravated vehicle taking.
A second man, Philip Stuart, the passenger in the car with Williams, has admitted burglary and aggravated vehicle-taking, by being allowed to be carried in the Mitsubishi.
Williams also denies attempted grievous bodily harm with intent to PC Thomas Birkett, 23, who was with PC Phillips, but dived out of the way of the Mitsubishi.