An emergency response officer was facing jail today for killing a grandmother after driving at speeds of more than 100mph while delivering a birthday card to his sister.

PC Malcolm Searles, 24, had his blue light and siren on while he went on the personal errand on duty.

He mowed down 61-year-old Sandra Simpson at a road junction in Bromley, South East London, as she walked home from a restaurant with her husband Peter.

Searles, was travelling at 56mph in a 30mph zone when he killed Mrs Simpson in a residential area.

But GPS tracker technology fitted to the police vehicle revealed the car had been driven at more than 100mph with flashing blue lights and sirens in use just before the fatal accident at 9pm on 23 August last year.

Searles, who has since been sacked from the MET, today pleaded guilty at London's Southwark's Crown Court to causing death by dangerous driving.
He also admitted another charge of dangerous driving and three counts of speeding. Two further counts of dangerous driving were left on file.

Searles is said to have been given permission to leave Bromley Police Station by bosses while on duty to go and deliver the card.

But the court heard how he had been speeding around the Swanley and Bromley area for an hour and 15 minutes before the collision.

An investigation by the Independent Police Complaints Commission later revealed he had gone to a Swanley housing estate, picked up a passenger and roared around local streets at high speed before dropping the person off at the address.

An IPCC spokesman said: "Information retrieved through GPS tracker technology and an incident data recorder fitted to the police vehicle showed the car had been driven at speeds in excess of 100mph, at times with flashing blue lights and sirens in use."

Searles was on his way back to Bromley Police Station when he smashed into mother of three, known as Sandy, on Homesdale Road as she walked back home with her husband from a meal out.

An air ambulance attended but Mrs Simpson was pronounced dead at the scene.

Judge Jeffrey Rivlin said: "If the Crown's case is right some of the figures in regard to the speed obtained are extraordinary."

Sentence was adjourned until October 26 for Searles, who was a newly qualified police response driver.