'That's my career gone,' says PC accused of killing mother on his untaxed motorbike

An off-duty police officer killed a mother on his untaxed high-power motorbike, a court has heard.

'I'm doomed - that's my career gone,' he is reported to have said, after his motorbike crashed into her.

Pc Damien Myerscough, 42, from Bury, hit a car on his Yamaha and the bike ploughed on into Lyndsay Oldham.

Mrs Oldham, 43, on a shopping trip with two of her three children, was thrown into a wall and died at the scene from severe head injuries.

A jury at Bolton Crown Court heard Myerscough was travelling 'considerably in excess' of the 30mph limit and had overtaken two cars before the crash.

Prosecutors said the 998cc sports bike had no road tax and a slack chain. It had been fitted with an illegal exhaust to make its engine sound louder.

Myerscough, of Camden Close, Ainsworth, near Bury, a member of the police tactical aid unit, based at Clayton Brook in Manchester, denies causing death by dangerous driving.

Mrs Oldham was walking along Church Street in Ainsworth with two of her children, David, 17, and Emma, 14, on Good Friday last year.

Andrew Nuttall, prosecuting, said: 'Putting it bluntly, she never had a chance.'

Emma was thrown on to railings but escaped serious injury. Her brother broke his ankle.

Mr Nuttall said: 'The defendant at the scene understood very well what he had done.

'His concern was immediately about his own career. He was heard to say "I'm doomed, that's my career gone. I'm a police officer".

'His driving fell far below that of a careful and competent driver.' 

Myerscough badly broke his leg in the crash and appeared in court in a wheelchair.

The court was told Mrs Oldham, of Edgeworth Avenue, Ainsworth, worked in the IT department of Bury council.

The jury heard that in the moments leading up to the accident Myerscough was seen 'throwing the bike from side to side' to warm the tyres and increase its grip on the road.

The area is built up and the road is narrow, marked with white chevrons on red tarmac.

Mr Nuttall said: 'These markings are called road calming measures and of course should be well known, not just to members of the public but to police officers.'

The jury was told that Myerscough was behind a row of four cars when he 'dropped a gear and accelerated hard to overtake all the cars'.

The bike collided with the third car as it turned right.

Mr Nuttall said: 'The bike flew over the car and crashed on to the back of the unfortunate Lyndsay Oldham.'

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