No prison term will be long enough for a meth-addicted car thief who ran over and killed a young policeman while trying to escape arrest, the officer's grieving widow says.
Reagan Ainslie Chown, 25, was convicted of manslaughter over the late-night chain of events in June 2023 that led to Constable Anthony Woods' death.
He was sentenced in the Western Australian Supreme Court on Thursday to a head sentence of 15 years and six months and a minimum term of 13 years and six months.
Const Woods' widow Emily said Chown's prison sentence would "never be enough because Anthony has lost his whole life".
"He had so much ahead of him," she said outside court while fighting back tears.
She thanked the dozens of police officers who turned out for the sentence, including WA Police Commissioner Col Blanch.
"It's been a really big journey, but today was an important day in helping us moving forward," she said.
Const Woods' mother Natalie said her heart was "ripped" away the day her son died.
"My beautiful son Anthony was so full of life, energy and ambition," she said in her victim impact statement to the court.
"He was doing his duty and he was protecting his community and his future was taken away."
Natalie Woods said her family continued to suffer and "each anniversary, birthday and any moment we shared with him is now painful for us".
"Whatever he did, he had a great passion ... he was larger than life, but his love for his family was number one," she said.
Chown and two others fled from police in a stolen Holden Cruz in a high-speed chase before turning into a cul-de-sac and stopping.
Const Woods, 28, opened the driver's door and tried to detain Chown, who was behind the steering wheel with the engine running.
Chown put the car into reverse and accelerated in a bid to escape.
The officer fired his Taser into the moving car before falling and being dragged under the vehicle, where he became trapped.
CCTV footage played during the trial in May showed the Holden reversing at speed, mounting a kerb and stopping after it hit a bollard.
During the video, Const Woods can be heard twice saying "stay where you are" and "Taser" as the vehicle moved backwards.
The officer died several days after the incident from complications of cardiac arrest caused by mechanical compression of the chest and abdomen.
Chown was on bail and under the influence of methamphetamine and in possession of the drug when the incident happened.
He was initially accused of murder but the charge was downgraded to manslaughter a week before his trial.
Mr Blanch said he would ask the government to review WA laws for cases in which a police officer was killed in the line of duty.
"I think murder should stand in these cases, when you are a criminal, behaving criminally, evading police and killing a police officer," he said outside court.
Const Woods was killed while serving his community and his memory would live on forever, Mr Blanch said.
"The police here today loved Anthony, they were his friend, his colleague and we have walked this journey from day one," he said.
Const Woods, who had just passed his probation, was farewelled before about 2000 police officers, family, friends and dignitaries at Optus Stadium in Perth.
Chown was also convicted of stealing the car and reckless driving to escape police. He was given a four-year driving ban.
He was described by his lawyer Paul Bevilacqua as a good, honest young man before he became hooked on drugs.
The fly-in, fly-out worker fell victim to a combination of the wrong company, too much money and too much time off work, leading him down the path to addiction.
