Moment driver overtakes cars before dragging cyclist headteacher a mile to his death
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Footage of a 4×4 driver ‘absolutely tanking it’ moments before ploughing into a headteacher cycling home from school has been released after it was shown during his murder trial.
Michael Mullins, 56, was cycling home from Stretford Grammar School in Manchester on April 20 when he was hit by a Volvo XC90 driven by Simon Richardson.
Instead of stopping, jurors at Manchester’s Minshull Street Crown Court have heard Richardson ‘put his foot down and fled the scene’ at more than 60mph – with Mr Mullins trapped under the wheels.
The Volvo left a mile-long trail of blood to a grass verge on Wet Gate Lane in Lymm, Cheshire, where the married father of two was found dying.
Prosecutors say Richardson is guilty of murder because he knew Mr Mullins was being dragged under his car and the risks of causing him at least really serious harm ‘and yet he drove on anyway’.
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Before the crash, witnesses described seeing Richardson’s black Volvo ‘absolutely tanking it’ towards the junction of Dunham Road and Warburton Lane.
Dashcam footage from the car behind appears to show him veering into the opposite lane to overtake two vehicles driving ahead.
Jurors were also shown a photo of Richardson sitting behind the wheel moments after the crash.
In the image, which has also been released, damage appears visible on the front right of the bonnet.
Phil Barnes KC, prosecuting, previously told jurors: ‘That damage was not there before the collision. It is beyond doubt, we say, that damage was caused by Michael Mullins being thrown up on to the bonnet of the Volvo when the defendant hit him.
‘Putting it bluntly, there is no way on earth that Simon Richardson could not have known that he had just hit Michael Mullins and that he was very likely to be hurt.’
Michael Mullins, 56, was cycling home from Stretford Grammar School in Manchester on April 20 when he was struck by a Volvo XC90 driven by Simon Richardson
Yesterday, the court heard evidence from Dr Terrence McGloughlin, a consultant in emergency medicine.
He said the evidence suggested Mr Mullins survived the initial impact from the Volvo.
Asked whether Mr Mullins was unconscious throughout the subsequent ‘dragging’, Dr McLoughlin said: ‘On the evidence provided I am unable to say whether he was conscious or not.’
Dr McGloughlin said evidence from Mr Mullins’s Apple Watch showed it continued to record his heart rate after he was released from the car: ‘It supports that he was still physiologically alive.’
But Richardson’s barrister Jaime Hamilton KC questioned the doctor on the accuracy of the Apple Watch data.
Mr Hamilton pointed to data suggesting there was some movement within the body after 6.50pm, when Mr Mullins had been pronounced dead.
He asked if that could be due to movement of Mr Mullins’s wrist, to which the doctor agreed.
He accepted there was no heart rate at this stage. ‘So that means the data cannot be accurate, can’t it?’ Mr Hamilton asked. ‘I am not an expert in this area,’ Dr McGloughlin said.
Mr Hamilton said there were 202 readings of a heart rate after the time of death.
‘It is my understanding that this was because the watch had been removed after 6.50pm,’ Dr McGloughlin said.
Jurors also heard evidence from Dr Chaz Dixon, an expert in navigation and GPS technology.
He told the court how GPS is used to track journey, connecting to satellites and/or phone masts.
The court heard that a phone belonging to Richardson’s passenger was in the vicinity of the Bulls Head pub before moving to Altrincham, going through the junction of Paddock Lane and Dunham Lane, before moving onto Wet Gate Lane in Lymm.
Mr Mullins’s Apple Watch showed he left Stretford Grammar School, went through Stretford, Urmston, Flixton, through Carrington, then on towards Lymm, it was said.
The court heard there was a gap of 28 seconds within the watch data.
‘The data has for some reason not been recorded,’ Dr Dixon said. ‘It’s very unusual to have a gap in the data of that nature.
‘If I hadn’t known there was a collision, I would struggle to know why that occurred.
‘Knowing that there was a collision, it seems very likely that this was as a direct result of the collision.’
He confirmed that the data was consistent with both the phone and the watch being together at the junction with Dunham Road and Paddock Lane, briefly stopping at the junction with Mill Lane, then onto Wet Gate Lane, before the phone went east and they parted ways.
Richardson, of no fixed address but formerly of Sale, denies murder, an alternate offence of manslaughter and dangerous driving.
The trial continues.
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