UK NEWS

TRIBUTES IN PINK TO HAYLEY

SADNESS: Hayley Adamson

Saturday June 7,2008

By Mark Blacklock

A PINK coffin is carried through a sea of sadness.

That was the scene yesterday at the funeral of 16-year-old Hayley Adamson, who was hit and killed by a police car which was in a chase but allegedly not sounding its siren or flashing blue lights.

Hundreds of mourners attended the emotional ceremony, many in her favourite colour, pink.

There were so many floral tributes, two flatbed lorries were needed to take them to the chapel in Newcastle upon Tyne.

The procession started from Hayley’s home in Fenham and passed the spot where she died.

Her mother Yvonne, 55, was inconsolable as she, other family members and scores of Hayley’s school friends followed the coffin, which was decorated with the Playboy bunny sign, Hayley’s favourite logo.

One of the wreaths was also in the shape of a pink Playboy bunny.

The procession took half an hour to reach the cemetery half a mile away as traffic wardens closed streets to prevent its passage being interrupted. There were angry scenes after Hayley was killed last month by the marked police Volvo, which had set off to track a suspected stolen car.

Her boyfriend George Oliver, 23, was allegedly zapped by a police Taser stun gun, then arrested but freed without charge.

After the tragedy, the police driver was said to have been taken off operational duties, but remained available for desk work.

But it was revealed yesterday that he has been formally suspended, pending the outcome of an inquiry. Hayley died the night before she was due to take her GCSE English exam as she crossed a road in Scotswood where Mr Oliver and her sister Sarah lived.

Two weeks earlier, Hayley had been a bridesmaid at Sarah’s wedding.

She was hit at about 11.30pm on a 30mph stretch of road.

Part of the probe by the Independent Police Complaints Authority will seek to establish whether the car’s blue lights and sirens were activated.

The IPCC is also investigating the alleged use of a Taser gun on Mr Oliver.