A man has been charged with the murder of PC David Phillips, Merseyside police said tonight. He has been named as Clayton Ronald Williams, 18, from Wallasey.
A second man, Phillip Stuart, 30, of Mayfair Court, Oxton, has been charged with aggravated, unauthorised taking of a motor vehicle and burglary. They will both appear at Wirral magistrates court on Thursday. Three women aged 19, 34, and 59, and another man, 39, all from Wallasey, have also been arrested on suspicion of assisting an offender.
The 34-year-old officer was killed on Monday following a burglary at a sales and letting agency in nearby Birkenhead in which a Mitsubishi pickup was stolen. A 40-minute pursuit followed before PC Phillips and a colleague attempted to use a “stinger” device to stop the Mitsubishi Challenger L200.
PC Phillips was given CPR by colleagues at the scene but died a short time later at Arrowe Park hospital on the Wirral. His family paid a moving tribute to him on Wednesday, saying that “two girls have been left without a daddy”.
