A policeman has gone on trial for causing the death of a child actor and his aunt during a chase as officers pursued a fleeing driver.

Met officer PC Edward Welch, 34, from Kent, denies four charges, including two counts of causing death by dangerous driving after Makayah McDermott and Rozanne Cooper were killed six years ago.

Joshua Dobby – the estranged son of a millionaire – ploughed into 10-year-old Makayah and his aunt Ms Cooper, 34, after losing control of a stolen Ford Focus in August 2016.

He drove four times over the speed limit of 20mph, the wrong way down a one-way street and was still travelling at 50mph as he mounted the kerb.

Ms Cooper was walking down a busy road in Penge, south east London, with her daughter Eva, Makayah and his older twin sisters Niyah and Yahla, 13, when the car hit them.

The three girls were taken to hospital for their injuries, but survived the crash.

Dobby had stolen the car after finding the keys in the street and was on his way to sell it to buy drugs, the Old Bailey heard when he was jailed for 12 years in February 2017.

Police abandoned their chase as he drove at 80mph through red lights and through a 30mph zone at 70mph, the court was told at the time.

Eight months after Dobby was jailed, police watchdog Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) announced an investigation was being launched into the two officers involved in the chase.

PC Welch, from Chatham, was the driver of a marked police car which pursued the vehicle driven by Dobby which crashed into Makayah and Ms Cooper.

He appeared at Westminster Magistrates’ Court last year and pleaded not guilty to two counts of causing death by dangerous driving, one count of causing injury by dangerous driving and one count of dangerous driving.

His case was adjourned for trial at the Old Bailey in London, and yesterday he reappeared in court where jurors heard he caused the deaths of Makayah and Ms Cooper, which he denies.

They heard arguments from the prosecution that there was a risk to pedestrians when the cars were speeding down roads which had parked cars meaning there was not enough space for two to pass.

The court also heard the chase continued after Dobby had hit Makayah and Ms Cooper and it was passers-by who helped them.

The second officer who was with PC Welch has not been charged as the CPS concluded there was no legal basis for prosecution.

Makayah had been given leading roles in productions at his south London theatre school and just weeks before his death auditioned for a part in a major new television series.

The three siblings all attended the Pop School and Stage Academy in Beckenham, south east London, and Makayah starred in a production of The Wizard of Oz spin-off The Wiz not long before he died, in which his two sisters also appeared.

After pleading guilty, Dobby was jailed for 12 years concurrently after admitting two counts of manslaughter as well as three years and four months in prison for causing serious injury by dangerous driving on August 31, 2016, and 16 months for dangerous driving five days earlier.

He was also banned from driving for 15 years and will have to retake a driving test.

In June 2019 an inquest ruled Makayah and Ms Cooper were unlawfully killed by Dobby.

Welch's trial continues.