Cancer nurse, 51, who ran over police officer is jailed for 30 months

Cancer nurse, 51, who ran over police officer and broke her RIBS after being stopped for going 51mph in a 40 zone is jailed for 30 months as court hears she had no licence and PC was so seriously injured she was off frontline duties for more than 17 months

  • Abiola Akilla, 51, ran down PC Caroline Green after being stopped for speeding
  • Her daughter was passenger when she ‘crushed’ PC Green’s body with son’s car 
  • PC Green was left severely injured and off front-line duties for 17 months
  • Akilla, who has never had a driving licence, has been jailed for 30 months

A cancer nurse who ran down a police officer after being stopped for speeding and left her in the road with serious injuries has been jailed for 30 months. 

Abiola Akilla, 51, who has never passed a driving test was pulled over by PC Caroline Green after she was clocked at 51mph in a 40mph zone. 

PC Green was checking Akilla’s details when she suddenly drove away ‘in a moment of madness’ in her son’s VW Polo, knocking the officer down and running over her body. 

Basildon Crown Court heard how PC Green suffered horrific chest injuries and was still off front line duties more than 17 months after the incident on October 31, 2020.

Abiola Akilla, 51, was stopped for driving 51mph in a 40mph zone in her son’s car, when she then ran over PC Caroline Green, while her daughter was a passenger. She then sped off and was arrested at home 

Akilla who had her young daughter in the back of the car ‘drove away and never looked back’ leaving the stricken officer in the road. 

A passer-by who stopped to help used the officer’s radio to raise the alarm. 

Akilla was found to have no driving licence or insurance when she was arrested later at her home in Chadwell St Mary, Essex. 

The court heard how PC Green had been alone and operating a speed check when she recorded the nurse speeding outside the Treetops special school in Grays, Essex. 

She indicted that Akilla should pull over and told her what speed she was doing before asking her if she had ever been on a speed awareness course or been caught offending before. 

Akilla replied that she had not, and claimed that she was insured to drive the car which did not belong to her. 

PC Green put her speed camera on top of the car and went to the front of the vehicle to check its registration details. 

The court heard how Akilla suddenly reversed as PC Green shouted at her to stop. Akilla did stop initially, but then drove into PC Green and ran over her body as the officer approached the front of the car, said prosecutor Stephen Rose. 

PC Caroline Green was knocked down by Abiola Akilla, and her body ‘crushed’ underneath the car. She was airlifted to Royal London Hospital

Harrowing bodycam footage of the hit and run was played to the court. 

PC Green suffered a flail chest injury with two broken ribs, three fractured ribs, abrasions and swelling to her right hand, a cut to her head and ligament damage to her right ankle. 

She could be heard screaming in pain on the bodycam footage as Akilla drove off.

The footage showed the number plate of the car and it was found near Akillla’s home. She was in her garden and was arrested. 

Her son, who owned the car was also arrested on suspicion of attempting to pervert the course of justice, but was later released without charge. 

Akilla was initially charged with causing grievous bodily harm with intent, but the charge was later reduced to causing serious injury by dangerous driving. 

The single mother admitted the offence and driving while unqualified and without insurance. 

PC Green, a single mother with a young child, had planned to attend court to personally read her victim statement, but the trauma of the case meant she felt she could not do so. 

Akilla who was in court with her family after earlier being allowed bail wept during the hearing, but showed little reaction when the shocking film was shown. 

She had initially indicated that she would be pursuing a defence related to a medical condition based around a ‘robotic’ mental deficiency in which she could not recall what she had done. 

Judge Samantha Leigh said that had Akilla would have been jailed for four years if she had been found guilty after a trial, but reduced her sentence due to her guilty pleas. 

She also banned her from driving for seven years and three months. 

Her defence counsel pleaded for her to get a reduced sentence due to her alleged remorse, previous good character and her work as an oncology nurse in London. 

The barrister said: ‘This is contrary to the way she has lived her life, contrary to her compassion. It’s completely out of character and spontaneous in terms of that decision on that day. It is inexplicable. 

‘She made her first mistake getting in the car in the first place. She was under time pressure and it didn’t help she was very tired. She was overwhelmed. 

‘It is clear in those circumstances she must have been completely panicked when she was stopped. Her head must have been swimming, she was petrified. It was irrational and completely bizarre. 

‘She is an oncology nurse. She had just gone through a very traumatic divorce that affected her. She was a single person trying to do her best. 

‘She made a decision that she would never make again. The ramifications of an immediate custodial sentence are quite dramatic. She has been suspended from her work. 

‘If she received a prison sentence it will be almost impossible for her to go back to her oncology work. She cares for three children one aged eight and another 16. 

‘Her family can’t believe what happened on that day. It was a moment of madness which shouldn’t have happened.’ 

Speaking after the case, PC Green criticised Akilla’s sentence, describing as ‘a very small price for her to pay’. 

She said: ‘I have been through 17 months of hell, mentally and physically, and continue to go through it – it is like a life sentence for me. 

‘I went to the front of the vehicle to take the registration plate and all of a sudden, she reversed back onto the road. 

‘I went back onto the road in front of her car and told her to come into the layby. As I was calling on the radio for someone to help, she drove over the top of me.’ 

PC Green said: ‘Her front wheel went over my ankle, then she drove up my leg. I was in so much pain I thought she’d snapped my leg. 

‘I fell back and cracked my head on the concrete and she drove over my ribs and my right shoulder. 

‘I had a crushing feeling all over my body and was screaming in pain. She was so close to my head, and in between the first and second wheels going over me I managed to get into a foetal position. 

‘Then the back wheel went over my legs, pelvis and stomach.’ 

A doctor on an air ambulance treated PC Green at the roadside before airlifting her to Royal London Hospital, where she stayed for a week. 

The officer was left concussed for months afterwards and was later diagnosed with PTSD. She wasn’t able to return to police work until last December 2021, when she started working from home.

She added: ‘Every day since that incident I have been on some form of recovery. The implications for her are short-lived, whereas for me they might be forever. 

‘I had sleepless nights, I was already having psychological issues with what had happened but then I started getting headaches every single day, thinking about having to go to court. 

‘Career-wise I don’t know where I fit now, I want to stay with the police, I don’t want to ill-health retired, as I am only 14 years into my career. But I only ever wanted to work in uniform on the frontline and I can’t do that anymore.’ 

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