A PEDESTRIAN had to dive out of the road to narrowly avoid a speeding motorist during a city police chase, a court heard.

Prosecutors claim that the driving of Connor Buckley was so bad that the officer who was pursuing him had to call off the pursuit for fears of other people's safety.

Buckley, 22, of Nuffield Close, Bicester, denies one count of dangerous driving.

As his trial at Oxford Crown Court got under way yesterday prosecutor Jonathan Veasey-Pugh told jurors the issue was whether or not Buckley had been the driver during the chase.

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He said: "Most criminal trials really are in two types, who did it, or whodunnit...and what happened.

"Well this is a whodunnit. The issue in this case is whether or not this defendant drove the car, but you are also going to be required to decide whether the driving was dangerous."

He said that the incident started in the early hours of March 17 last year at Banbury Road, Oxford.

Jurors were told that Thames Valley Police officer Matthew Stansfield was uniformed in a police car at the junction of Five Mile Drive and Banbury Road at about 1.25am when he spotted a silver Ford Mondeo.

From the witness box PC Stansfield said his attention was drawn to the car 'because of its speed' which he said was over the 30 mph limit.

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He said he saw the driver for a couple of seconds and from three metres away, describing him as a white male wearing a black jacket and black baseball cap with a NY Yankees logo emblazoned on it.

After following the car, he told the court, in the direction of the city centre he said it began to slow after the blue emergency lights had been activated and the siren.

While travelling at about 5mph on Banbury Road, he said, the car suddenly sped off and PC Stansfield chased after him.

As the high speed chase continued, jurors were told, the car approached a Pelican crossing with a pedestrian stepping out on to the road. They were forced to 'jump' back on to the pavement to avoid being hit, the court heard.

Pc Stansfield said he stopped the pursuit for the protection of the public and Buckley was later found and arrested.

Buckley, jurors were told, said to police he was not the driver at the time.

The trial continues.