James "Jim" Affleck

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Photo courtesy of the Australian Police website - http://www.australianpolice.com.au/james-affleck/

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Driver who ran down officer ‘was re-enacting computer game’

By Ellen Connolly
May 14 2002



The scene of Senior Constable Affleck’s death. Photo: Nick Moir

The driver of a stolen car who killed a highway patrol officer during a police chase was re-enacting one of his PlayStation computer games, The Need for Speed – Hot Pursuit, the Supreme Court heard yesterday.

Trevor Edward Holton, 26, has pleaded not guilty to murdering Senior Constable Jim Affleck, 43, near Campbelltown on January 14 last year.

In his opening address yesterday, the Crown prosecutor, Mark Tedeschi, QC, said that during the pursuit Holton was ”testing his car rallying skills” and was ”engaged in a real life re-enactment of the computer game”.

”To him the lives of other road users and the lives of police officers were just there as props to provide the thrill of the chase, and they were expendable in the pursuit of that thrill. Jim Affleck’s death was just part of this real-life game.”

The court was told the chase began about 8.30am after another man, who was a passenger in the four-wheel-drive, committed a bag snatch at Moss Vale. Also in the car was the man’s four-year-old stepdaughter.

For the next 40 minutes police chased the stolen vehicle as it drove on the wrong side of the road along the M5 freeway and the old Hume Highway, reaching speeds of up to 180kmh.

At one stage the passenger got out of the car and tried to take the girl with him but Holton sped off with her.

Senior Constable Affleck tried to stop the vehicle by throwing road spikes across the M5 but Holton swerved across two lanes to miss the spikes and hit the officer, Mr Tedeschi said. His body landed 80 metres away.

The stolen vehicle somersaulted and landed on its roof, with the girl, uninjured, still in the back. Holton fled but was arrested that night.

In a police interview Holton had said he ”was not prepared, at any stage, to get pulled over or stop”. He had seen Senior Constable Affleck running across the road in front of him trying to get the spikes under the vehicle.

”I couldn’t swerve; I couldn’t dodge him. I was going too fast. It’s like he [Affleck] didn’t care what happened.

”To me it was like it was suicide. He could see how fast I was going. He could see I could not stop.

”I have just been so angry … he could have avoided me so easy.”

He had said he knew about road spikes from playing the computer game, in which the main method of avoiding spikes is to veer off the road onto a median strip or the grass.

The trial continues.

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Outrage at police killer’s mercy bid

By Sean Berry
November 2, 2003
The Sun-Herald





The family of murdered policeman Jim Affleck has described his killer’s attempt to appeal against a 12-year jail sentence as “an outrage”.

A year after Trevor Edward Holton was sentenced to serve a minimum of 12 years (maximum of 16) in jail for the highway patrol officer’s murder, he has initiated an appeal against the severity of the sentence in the Court of Criminal Appeal.

Holton, of Claymore, south-west Sydney, was sentenced in August after he ran down and killed Affleck in January 2001.

He hit Affleck with a stolen four-wheel-drive when he swerved to avoid road spikes the policeman was laying across the M5 Freeway at Campbelltown.

Delivering the sentence in the Supreme Court, Acting Judge Thomas Davidson said the jail term needed to act as a deterrent and demonstrate that such acts against police in the execution of their duty would not be tolerated.

However, the Department of Public Prosecutions has since lodged an appeal against the leniency of the sentence, with a hearing due next month.

The Crown’s stance is in contrast to Holton’s planned appeal against the harshness of the same sentence.

“If he does [appeal], it may well be that the Crown appeal in December will be vacated,” a court spokesman said. “The court likes to deal with these things as one.”

Any appeal against the severity flies in the face of the outrage that greeted the sentencing last year.

“We thought he deserved more,” the victim’s brother, Paul Affleck, said. “Before the sentencing we sat down with [then police minister] Michael Costa. He gave us an idea of what they were looking at for minimum sentences and more stringent sentencing.

“It has now been 12 months since the sentencing and nothing has been done. How many more policemen have to die before someone does something?”

NSW shadow attorney-general Andrew Tink said he had a simple approach to the matter.

“Anyone who kills a police officer while they are carrying out their duties should go to jail for life,” he said. “That is our strong stance.”

Mr Affleck said Holton’s bid to reduce his sentence was not a surprise, just unfortunate.

“We have been expecting that all along, just the way the defence was talking after the trial,” he said.

“Anyone who kills a policeman should spend his life in jail – he had a criminal record going back until he was 13 or something.

“I think it’s ridiculous and I don’t know why we tolerate these things. I just think it’s ridiculous he has the opportunity to [appeal].

“I think anyone who kills anyone doesn’t deserve any freedom.”

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Police killer spared more time in jail
By Les Kennedy
July 1, 2004

A policeman who died after being run over by a fleeing car thief should have shot his killer “between the eyes”, his widow says.

The widow of Senior Constable Jim Affleck was speaking yesterday after a court rejected the Crown’s appeal against the leniency of the sentence given to the man who ran him down.

Trish Affleck compared the situation her husband was in when he was killed by Trevor Edward Holton to that faced by another policeman, Inspector Shane Cribb, who has been charged over the shooting of a criminal who drove a getaway car at him three years ago.

“You have got Inspector Cribb looking down the barrel of a jail term for doing what I wish to God Jim had done. I wish to God he would have shot Holton between the eyes,” Mrs Affleck said with tears in her eyes.

The NSW Court of Appeal, in a 2-1 decision, yesterday rejected the Crown’s argument for a tougher sentence for Holton, who was jailed in August 2002 for a minimum of 12 years, and a maximum 16, for the murder of Senior Constable Affleck.

On January 14, 2001, the stolen four-wheel-drive Holton was driving hit Senior Constable Affleck, a highway patrolman, as he laid out road spikes on M5 to stop the vehicle. Holton was being pursued by police after committing a robbery.

Holton also appealed against his conviction, but that was unanimously dismissed by justices Michael Grove, Robert Hulme and Rex Smart yesterday.

A Special Memorial at Woronora dedicated to Police who died whilst performing their duty.

A Special Memorial at Woronora dedicated to Police who died whilst performing their duty.

Jims marker on the Australian Police Memorial Wall Canberra

Australian Police Memorial Wall Canberra

Australian Police Memorial Wall Canberra