I didn't lay hand on tram victim said Pc

The policeman who argued with his ex-fiancee minutes before she was struck by a Midland Metro tram was secretly recorded confiding in a colleague: "I didn't lay a hand on her," an inquest heard.

Pc Ian Bracey described the death of Cheryl Flanagan as a "terrible tragedy", and said he had nothing to hide, in the covert recording which has only now been made public.

Mr Bracey had earlier told police he and Miss Flanagan, who had split up a few days before the tragedy, rowed on a road bridge near to The Crescent stop.

He claimed 30-year-old Miss Flanagan slapped him in the face before throwing his scarf down on to the tracks.

He went to retrieve it and said Miss Flanagan had not followed him on to the line.

But in a conversation shortly after the tragedy, which was not recorded, Pc Bracey allegedly told friend Pc Kirsty Brooks that the argument had continued on the line.

In a 70-minute CD, recorded at Pc Bracey's house near Tettenhall Road less than a month after the tragedy and played to the jury at Worcestershire Coroner's Court yesterday, he maintained his original account that he had not seen Miss Flanagan on the tracks.

He was recorded telling fellow Wolverhampton officer Pc Brooks: "I picked my scarf up and walked along the track. I thought, 'If I go back, it'll start again', so I just carried on walking.

"I saw there was a tram coming so I got up the embankment. The last time I saw her she was on the stairs (at The Crescent tram stop). The only thing I can think is she followed me, she was expecting me to come back. British Transport Police obviously think something's gone on.

"They think I've done something to her down on the track. Well, I haven't. When I left her, she was standing on the stairs and she was alive. It's just a terrible, terrible tragedy."

Telling Pc Brooks that he had been questioned for two-and-a-half hours under caution, he said: "I haven't done anything wrong."

He continued:"I didn't lay a hand on her, even while she hit me. BTP can think what they like, I've never harmed a hair on her."

The inquest continues.