{"id":573311,"date":"2025-11-16T03:28:32","date_gmt":"2025-11-16T03:28:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/573311\/"},"modified":"2025-11-16T03:28:32","modified_gmt":"2025-11-16T03:28:32","slug":"speeding-royal-outrider-killed-our-grandmother-we-deserve-answers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/573311\/","title":{"rendered":"Speeding royal outrider killed our grandmother. We deserve answers"},"content":{"rendered":"

When the not-guilty verdict was read out at the Old Bailey on Thursday, one of Helen Holland\u2019s ten grandchildren shouted from the public gallery: \u201cYou ruined our family with no consequences.\u201d<\/p>\n

Holland, 81, had been crossing the road, with the green man signal showing, in Earl\u2019s Court, west London, when she was killed by a police motorbike outrider accompanying the car of Sophie, the Duchess of Edinburgh. <\/p>\n

Last week Christopher Harrison, who was travelling at between 44mph and 58mph as he approached the red light and had a clear view for about 240 metres beforehand, was cleared of causing death by careless driving.<\/p>\n

Harrison, now 68, told the jury that Holland had \u201cjust appeared, between the kerb line and the point of collision. At no point did I see her on the island\u201d.<\/p>\n

\"Helen<\/p>\n

Helen Holland with one of her eight great-grandchildren<\/p>\n

NIGEL HOWARD<\/p>\n

For Holland\u2019s large, close family<\/a>, the verdict was an agony. She was a mother of four, a grandmother of ten and a great-grandmother of eight, described by her son Martin as the \u201chub\u201d, \u201cheart\u201d and \u201cglue\u201d of their family. <\/p>\n

Martin, 59, said: \u201cThat\u2019s the reason the grandchildren are taking it so badly, because they would see her every single Sunday, she\u2019d do a bit of food for them, go for a beer down the road in the local village. She kept the whole family together.\u201d<\/p>\n

They have decided to sue the Metropolitan Police<\/a>, not because they want any money, but because they want an acknowledgement that Holland \u2014 who taught her children to always wait for the green man before crossing \u2014 \u201cdid nothing wrong\u201d.<\/p>\n

Martin said: \u201cWe are suing them just to make sure it\u2019s recognised. We\u2019re not in the slightest bit interested in compensation \u2014 it\u2019s about proving that mum did nothing wrong. She would never take a risk. Certainly crossing a road was one of the big risks that was important to her. She knew how to cross a road.\u201d<\/p>\n

Harrison, of Billericay, Essex, who joined the Met in 1982, had been part of its special escort group for VIPs for 21 years. The court was told that he is proud to have been the main outrider in front of the hearse at Queen Elizabeth\u2019s funeral in September 2022.<\/p>\n

\"Hearse<\/p>\n

Christopher Harrison leads a line of outriders at Windsor for the Queen\u2019s funeral<\/p>\n

MOLLY DARLINGTON<\/p>\n

On the day of the collision \u2014 May 10, 2023 \u2014 the duchess had attended a briefing at the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office. She is thought to have been en route to evensong at St George\u2019s Chapel, Windsor. She was escorted across London in a convoy of two cars and four motorcycle outriders, of which Harrison was one.<\/p>\n

Met escort riders are allowed to go through red lights and break the speed limit if it is deemed necessary and safe.<\/p>\n

Holland, from Birchanger, Essex, was hit at the pedestrian crossing on the West Cromwell Road in southwest London at 3.20pm, five minutes after leaving the flat of her sister, Dorothy Phillips, to return home.<\/p>\n

Phillips, 91, attended every day of the four-day court case last week and has found it difficult to cross the road ever since. \u201cNow nobody can go across any green crossing with any security at all. I won\u2019t. I\u2019m too frightened to even cross the road,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\"Helen<\/p>\n

Helen Holland, left, with her sister Dorothy Phillips<\/p>\n

Michelle Heeley KC, for the prosecution, told the Old Bailey on Monday: \u201cMrs Holland was entitled to be crossing then. He should have seen her. He should have expected there to be pedestrians and thus modified his driving somehow, but he didn\u2019t.\u201d<\/p>\n

During cross-examination, Harrison denied Heeley\u2019s suggestion he \u201cmade a mistake\u201d that day. \u201cA tragic accident occurred in a set of circumstances that I had no control over,\u201d he told the jury. <\/p>\n

Heeley replied: \u201cYou did have control over it. You could have chosen to stop your bike and properly control that crossing,\u201d to which Harrison replied, \u201cYes.\u201d Heeley then said: \u201cAnd you didn\u2019t did you?\u201d, to which he replied: \u201cNo I didn\u2019t.\u201d<\/p>\n

Harrison accepted he forgot to switch on his bodyworn camera and did not use his whistle as he approached, but insisted he had not been complacent that day. <\/p>\n

\"Dash<\/p>\n

Bodycam footage published with the family\u2019s permission shows the moment just before Harrison hit Holland, circled<\/p>\n

IOPC<\/p>\n

\"Police<\/p>\n

The scene later that day \u2014 it began to rain after the crash<\/p>\n

JAMIE LORRIMAN<\/p>\n

Since Holland\u2019s death escort riders have had bullhorns \u201cfitted to their motorcycles to ensure public safety\u201d, the Met said after Harrison was cleared.<\/p>\n

The Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) will now push for Harrison to face disciplinary proceedings. Amanda Rowe, director of the IOPC, said: \u201cAt the end of our 12-month investigation we determined there was sufficient evidence to indicate he may have breached the police standards of professional behaviour in relation to his manner of riding. The officer had also failed to activate his body-worn video camera prior to the escort, in breach of Special Escort Group policy.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe, therefore, had a case to answer for gross misconduct and we will now liaise with the force about disciplinary proceedings.\u201d Gross misconduct hearings have three outcomes: final written warning, reduction in rank and sacking.<\/p>\n

After the accident, the duchess<\/a> sent the family a \u201clovely\u201d handwritten letter expressing her condolences<\/a>. <\/p>\n

Phillips wrote a letter to the Queen the day after Helen died in hospital, a fortnight after the crash, asking her to to \u201ctry to make things safer\u201d. In reply, the Queen\u2019s private secretary expressed the King and Queen\u2019s \u201cdeepest condolences\u201d. The family bear no ill will towards the royal family, with Phillips describing her sister as a \u201ctremendous supporter of the royalty\u201d who \u201cadored the police\u201d.<\/p>\n

She said their mother lived to 100 and the family thought Helen had another 20 years of life ahead of her. Her funeral was attended by hundreds, with villagers lining the road.<\/p>\n

\"Chris<\/p>\n

Chris Holmes, Dorothy Phillips and Mark Holland, respectively Helen Holland\u2019s brother, sister and son<\/p>\n

NIGEL HOWARD<\/p>\n

Speaking after the case, Commander Adam Slonecki said the Met are \u201cdeeply sorry\u201d, adding: \u201cWhile nothing we can say or do can make up for this loss, we have worked to safeguard against future tragedies regardless of today\u2019s outcome.<\/p>\n

\u201cEscort riders now have bullhorns fitted to their motorcycles to ensure public safety. They use these in addition to their whistles to warn people they are approaching. We will now consider any misconduct matters for PC Harrison as soon as possible.\u201d<\/p>\n

A year before Holland died, her youngest son, Mark, now 55, had a near-fatal stroke and was diagnosed with chronic inflammatory demyelinating polyneuropathy, a rare autoimmune disorder that affects the nervous system. He was given a year to live and moved in with his mother so she could look after him.<\/p>\n

He now lives on his own. \u201cShe was my best mate. She was everything,\u201d Mark said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"When the not-guilty verdict was read out at the Old Bailey on Thursday, one of Helen Holland\u2019s ten…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":573312,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7708],"tags":[5105,7710,519,448],"class_list":{"0":"post-573311","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-royals","8":"tag-royal","9":"tag-royal-families","10":"tag-royal-family","11":"tag-royals"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115557258880114674","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/573311","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=573311"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/573311\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/573312"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=573311"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=573311"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=573311"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}