Man who ran down Sydney policeman refuses to apologise

A man who ran down a police officer in Campbelltown in 2001 during a high-speed police chase has refused to apologise to his victim’s aggrieved family.

Trevor Holton, 40, was convicted of the murder of Highway Patrol officer Jim Affleck, 43, in 2001.

Mr Affleck was laying road spikes in an attempt to end the pursuit, when Holton drove a stolen car directly into him.

Holton claimed Mr Affleck had stepped into the path of the ongoing vehicle, and said he had been swerving off the road at the time in an attempt to avoid the spikes.

Holton pled guilty to manslaughter but was convicted of murder.

He was released from jail last month, six months before his maximum 16-year jail term expired, to the anger of Mr Affleck’s widow, Trish Affleck-Mooney.

“It’s a face that I don’t ever want to see on the outside, and he is on the outside,” Mrs Affleck-Mooney said of Holton.

She said she is disappointed Holton – who must live at a halfway house near Long Bay Correctional Centre until his sentence expires in January – has shown no remorse for his actions.

“He spent all this time in jail, so that was his golden opportunity to just say, ‘I’m sorry’ like any decent human being would,” Mrs Affleck-Mooney said.

Mr Holton was approached for comment but declined to be interviewed.