A routine royal escort turned tragic when veteran Metropolitan Police motorcycle outrider PC Christopher Harrison struck a pedestrian in Earl's Court, London, on May 10, 2023. Helen Holland, 81, was at a pedestrian crossing when she was hit by the motorcycle. Two weeks later, she died in a hospital. The crash occurred while Harrison was escorting the Duchess of Edinburgh as part of a motorcade. In November 2025, a jury at the Old Bailey found him not guilty of causing death by careless driving. The case raises significant concerns about police risk and accountability; and it places a spotlight on the use of expert testimony in deciding whether a Traffic officer involved in a fatal crash did anything wrong.
At trial, Harrison was 68 and had been riding as part of a special unit tasked with protecting the Duchess of Edinburgh. The prosecution and witnesses said that when he hit a pedestrian named Helen Holland, he was traveling between 44 and 58 mph—well above the 30 mph limit on that stretch of West Cromwell Road. Notably, Holland was nearly 3 meters onto the pedestrian crossing when she got hit. Central to the prosecution's case was the fact that Harrison had not switched on his body camera and had forgotten to use his whistle before the collision. These two things raised the question of whether or not he was being as procedural as he needed to be.
One of the clearest instances of expert witness weight in the case came from a policing trainer called by the court. Lancashire Police’s deputy chief training instructor — named in reporting as Johnathan Moody — gave a candid assessment of the riding conduct the jury had to judge. Moody’s evidence, as reported, judged Harrison’s actions against the benchmark of competent outrider behaviour and concluded that a different, more controlling approach was expected when approaching a red light and a pedestrian crossing. Such testimony does not itself prove criminality, but it frames the conduct question: did the officer fall below the standard of a reasonable and competent specialist-escort rider? That is the core of the careless-driving allegation.
As soon as the verdict was announced, the Metropolitan Police declared their intention to fit bullhorns to escort motorcycles. This would be done “in addition to their whistles,”. Meanwhile, the IOPC is reportedly pushing for a gross misconduct investigation, suggesting that disciplinary accountability may follow even if criminal liability was rejected.
A family member in the public gallery shouted, "You ruined our family with no consequences" after the verdict was read. The family of Helen Holland have iterated their intention to bring a civil claim. As reported, they are not seeking financial compensation, they want the Met to acknowledge that Mrs Holland “did nothing wrong.
Expert Witnesses
In any death on the roads, trial the principal expert disciplines are familiar: forensic pathology to establish cause of death and injury patterns, plus collision reconstruction tests to estimate speeds, trajectories and impact dynamics. experts on driver behaviour are key or, in this case, specialist police motorcycle-escort practice. Each contributes a symbiotic thread of testimony to result in a reliable legal answer.
Collision reconstruction analysts use vehicle damage, scene measurements, CCTV and any digital data to model how the crash unfolded. Their remit is technical: what was the likely speed of the motorcycle on approach, where were the parties located at key moments, and was there any realistic opportunity to avoid the collision? Published reporting during the trial repeatedly referenced speed estimates in the mid-40s to high-50s mph against a 30mph limit — numbers that, in court, sit at the heart of the avoidability debate.
The only named expert in reliable sources is Johnathan Moody, the policing / training instructor. Other experts (pathology, reconstruction) are almost certainly involved, but their identities are not disclosed in public reporting so far.
Eddie Price
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Forensic_pathology
https://witnessdirectory.com/signup.php
