A 35-year-old motorist has been found guilty of murder after driving through give-way markings, striking a cyclist, and dragging him beneath a 4×4 vehicle for more than a mile in Greater Manchester. Simon Richardson was convicted on Friday at Manchester Minshull Street crown court following the April 20 death of 56-year-old Michael Mullins.
Mullins, a headteacher at Stretford grammar school, was cycling home from work on the evening of the incident when his bicycle collided with the bonnet and windscreen of Richardson’s Volvo XC90 in the village of Warburton. The victim went under the vehicle and became entangled in the suspension.
During the trial, prosecutor Phil Barnes KC argued that Richardson knew the cyclist was trapped inches beneath his feet. “For a split second after the collision, for a brief moment he possibly thought about doing the right thing and getting out and taking ownership of what he had just done and help the man he had just run down,” Barnes told the court. “But Simon Richardson did not get out. He did not do the right thing. He chose to drive away. The obvious reason is because he wanted to escape the consequences of what he had just done.”
Richardson’s front-seat passenger and cousin, Gabrielle Debotte, testified for the prosecution that both occupants heard moaning from outside shortly after the collision. She told the court that Richardson stated, “He’s under the car.”
Evidence presented at trial revealed that Richardson drove 1.3 miles to a secluded farm track in Lymm in an attempt to dislodge the victim. The court heard he twice tried to pull Mullins out before returning to the vehicle, swerving sharply and deliberately from side to side, and mounting a grass verge to release him. Mullins was finally freed from the vehicle but was driven over again as the driver reversed and fled the scene.
A motorcyclist tracking a trail of blood from the initial collision site eventually discovered Mullins lying alone and barely breathing on the grass verge. Emergency responders arrived but were unable to save Mullins, a resident of Northwich, Cheshire, who succumbed to multiple injuries.
Police arrested Richardson the following day after a vehicle pursuit. While he denied murder, claiming he was unaware Mullins was trapped beneath the car and asserting he never exited the vehicle to free him, the jury rejected his defense. In his closing argument, defense counsel Jaime Hamilton KC acknowledged the defendant’s culpability for the crash, telling jurors, “Not only is he responsible for the death of Michael Mullins, he acted in the most selfish of ways with one thought in his mind – himself. But that does not make him guilty of the homicide offences on this indictment.”
Following the verdict, members of the victim’s family wept in the courtroom. In a public statement, the family remembered him warmly: “He was devoted to his family and our lives will never be the same. A gap has been left in our hearts and within his role as a headteacher of Stretford grammar school.”
Trial judge Mrs Justice Brunner KC commended the jurors for handling a distressing case, discharging them from service for 10 years, and scheduled sentencing for Monday.
