PC Paul Raines ignored Christine Roche’s need for urgent medical attention after he argued with her 72-year-old husband, Patrick, over a minor automobile accident.
The couple was driving to their home in Hillingdon in foggy conditions when the wing mirror of their car clipped the side of Raines’ Ford Focus.
Having undergone heart surgery just the week prior, Mrs Roche collapsed after the argument and died at the wheel of their car.
Raines left the scene without calling an ambulance and was initially arrested on suspicion of manslaughter.
However, after a criminal inquiry, an inquest and a disciplinary hearing, senior officers have ruled he was guilty of ‘discreditable conduct’, which means he will not lose his job but simply face a written warning.
‘I have lost my mother and he has not even lost his job,’ her son, Matthew Roche, said. ‘We were originally looking for a manslaughter charge, and now to be told he will carry on working has left us inconsolable.’
