A WOMAN has been sentenced to two and a half years in jail after running over a police officer.

Essex traffic officer PC Caroline Green was run over after stopping a woman for speeding on October 31, 2020.

Driver, Abiola Akilla has been sentenced to two and a half years in jail, which the severely injured officer says it “is a very small price for her to pay” as she suffers a “life sentence” with her injuries.

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The incident occurred in Grays when Caroline stopped a vehicle for speeding; the driver Akilla, also did not have a licence or insurance, as well as having her young child in the back too.

After stopping the vehicle Caroline went to the front to take the registration plate, the driver then drove towards the officer.

Caroline 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.”

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

Akilla was arrested and charged with GBH with intent, but it took 17 months for her to be sentenced on March 30, 2022, by which point the charge had been reduced to serious injury by dangerous driving.

The police officer believed the 30-month sentence should be longer.

She said: “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.

“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.”