Trafford headteacher dragged to death under car for over a mile, murder trial hears
Simon Richardson, 35, denies murdering cyclist Michael Mullins, 56, who was struck and trapped under a Volvo in Warburton on 20 April. The trial continues at Manchester Minshull Street Crown Court.
Headteacher trapped under car and dragged to death, jury told at Manchester murder trial
A headteacher was struck by a car and dragged beneath its wheels for more than a mile while the driver allegedly knew he was there, a jury at Manchester Minshull Street Crown Court heard on the opening day of a murder trial.
Michael Mullins, 56, a married father of two and head teacher at Stretford Grammar School in Trafford, was cycling home along Paddock Lane in Warburton on 20 April when a black Volvo XC90 failed to give way at a junction with Dunham Road and struck the left side of his bike at 18:07 BST. He was on his usual 19-mile (30 km) commute to his home in Northwich.
Simon Richardson, 35, of no fixed address, denies murder, an alternative count of manslaughter, and a separate charge of dangerous driving related to a police chase the following day. He is standing trial at Minshull Street Crown Court.
As bbc.com reports, Philip Barnes KC, opening the prosecution's case, told the jury that Richardson did not stop after the collision but fled the scene towards Cheshire, reaching speeds above 60mph.
Witnesses searched the hedgerows
Several motorists witnessed the impact and stopped at the scene. They found Mullins' bicycle lying in the road but were unable to locate the cyclist himself, despite searching nearby hedgerows and fields.
"Michael Mullins was nowhere to be seen," Barnes told the six men and six women of the jury.
CCTV footage from a camera outside La Boheme restaurant in Lymm captured the Volvo passing with Mullins visibly being dragged under the front left side. A further clip showed a steady, consistent trail of blood following the path of the vehicle along the road.
Barnes told the jury: "It would have taken no more than a glance in the rear-view mirror for the defendant to see that line being drawn on the road behind him."
Stop on Wet Gate Lane
Richardson was driving with his cousin, Gabrielle Debotte, in the passenger seat at the time of the collision. Debotte subsequently told police that Richardson stopped for approximately 90 seconds on Wet Gate Lane, stepped out of the driver's side and made two attempts to pull Mullins free from where he was trapped under the wheel assembly.
Barnes said those attempts were not made out of concern for the injured cyclist. "This was Simon Richardson trying to pull Michael Mullins out from beneath that car and then leave him at the side of the road, to die if that was what it came to, so that he could flee the area and try to get away with what he had done before anybody caught up with him," he told the court.
Mullins had been wearing an Apple Watch that was tracking his heart rate and movements as he cycled. Data retrieved from the device showed his heart was still beating when the Volvo halted on Wet Gate Lane.
According to Barnes, Richardson returned to the car fully aware that Mullins remained trapped and alive beneath it. "The defendant got back in and drove on, absolutely certain — having now seen with his own eyes what he had already known from the moment he left the scene of the collision — that Michael Mullins was still stuck there, still alive, being ground away into the surface of the road."
Further CCTV footage showed the Volvo appearing to veer from side to side, which the prosecution suggested was a further attempt to dislodge the cyclist. Mullins eventually came free and was left on a grass verge near Wet Gate Farm in Lymm.
Motorcyclist followed the trail of blood
A motorcyclist who had witnessed the original collision followed the trail of blood to the spot where Mullins was lying. The witness called 999. Barnes told the court that Mullins was "barely alive" and appeared to take his final breaths as the call was being made. Paramedics confirmed he had died at the roadside when they arrived.
The prosecution will argue that Mullins died not from the initial impact of the collision but from being dragged along and then crushed beneath the wheels of the vehicle. He had sustained multiple internal injuries.
Movements after the collision
Following the collision, Richardson stopped at a petrol station in Lymm, where he filled up the car. Debotte was filmed inside the vehicle with her head in her hands. The two then collected medication from a clinic before Richardson dropped Debotte at her home in Altrincham.
Later that evening Richardson exchanged his Volvo for a Ford Transit van belonging to a friend identified as Daniel Richards, spending the remainder of the night moving between locations and Debotte's home.
By around lunchtime the following day, nursery worker Debotte, who had been awake throughout the night, broke down in front of colleagues and decided to go to police. Greater Manchester Police subsequently spotted the Transit van being driven by Richardson in Failsworth, heading towards Oldham, and gave chase. Richardson was arrested and interviewed but did not answer questions, the court heard.
The jury was told it would be required to view distressing video footage from CCTV cameras and helicopter-mounted cameras during the course of the trial.
Source: Google News IE — Crime (en)