A teenager who died following a police pursuit when he got out of a moving car had previously told his father that the officer driving that day wanted to “kill him”, an inquest has heard.
Disqualified driver Kelvin Bainbridge, 19, was one of County Durham’s most-wanted criminals when he was spotted behind the wheel of a Nissan Primera in October 2019, along with four passengers including his mother and his pregnant partner.
He died following a six-minute pursuit through Spennymoor when he tried to exit his car while it was still moving and suffered blunt head injuries when he was struck by the front valance of a marked police BMW vehicle driven by Pc Paul Jackson.
Mr Bainbridge’s father Troy told the inquest in Crook that he had witnessed a previous interaction with his son and Pc Jackson when Kelvin was aged around 17.
He and his son had attended court after Kelvin had been at large and had been released on an electronic tag, but Pc Jackson had grabbed him outside after the hearing, believing he was still wanted, the father said.
He told jurors his son, who was known to try to escape from police, was held up against a force car, in handcuffs, with the officer’s arm across his neck.
Mr Bainbridge told the inquest his son was released after Pc Jackson checked Kelvin was no longer wanted, and as they walked away together, he said the teenager had asked him: “Do you see what I mean about him?
“That’s the one I have been on about.”
The father said: “He was the one he said who wanted to kill him. He said ‘you can see for yourself, he is a bully’.”
John Beggs KC, for Durham Police, said Mr Bainbridge had first mentioned this interaction only a month ago, around six years after he claimed it had happened.
Mr Bainbridge agreed he had not made any complaint about it at the time.
Mr Beggs also said that Pc Jackson had only arrested Kelvin once in his career, and the officer had no recollection of this alleged incident.
Mr Bainbridge said he always told Kelvin to hand himself in if he was wanted by the police and claimed to have a good personal rapport with officers looking for his son.
Sergeant Ross Burnham, who was working out of Bishop Auckland police station on the day of the fatal collision, paid tribute to Pc Jackson, calling him a “hard-working” traffic officer, who was polite and respectful when dealing with the public.
He told the inquest: “He has always been professional, probably the most proactive in terms of police officers I have met, really well-liked by other officers, always willing to help.”
Asked by Mr Beggs to explain what he meant by proactive, Sgt Burnham said: “He would know the targets who we were looking for. He would go out and actively try to apprehend them.”
Sgt Burnham added: “He is probably the best road policing officer I have worked with.”
The inquest continues.
