A 4×4 driver who hit a headteacher cycling home from school and deliberately drove on for more than a mile knowing he was trapped under the wheels has been found guilty of murder.
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 underneath.
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.
Richardson denied murder, claiming he did not realise Mr Mullins was underneath his car and said he did not get out of his vehicle in a bid to free him.
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Family members in the public gallery were in tears after he was found guilty today.
He will be given a life sentence on Monday, with a judge setting the minimum term he must serve before becoming eligible for parole.
The judge, Mrs Justice Brunner, discharged the jurors from taking jury service again for 10 years and told them: ‘This was, I know, an upsetting case and there was evidence which you may have found distressing.’
Mr Mullins’s family said: ‘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.’
During the trial, jurors heard Richardson drove straight through give-way markers at a junction in Altrincham, Greater Manchester, and into the path of Mr Mullins, who fell on to his bonnet and windscreen before he was drawn under the car.
The father-of-two became entangled in the suspension of the 4×4 vehicle as Richardson drove on, Manchester Minshull Street Crown Court heard.
Prosecutors said the defendant was aware the trapped cyclist was inches below his feet shortly after the collision in Paddock Lane, Warburton.
Phil Barnes KC told jurors: ‘Simon Richardson knew he was there and he inevitably knew what the consequences of driving on would be, and he did it anyway.
‘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.
‘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, his cousin Gabrielle Debotte, told the trial that both heard ‘moaning’ from outside as he drove from the collision scene.
Giving evidence for the prosecution she said Richardson went on to say: ‘He’s under the car.’
Mr Barnes said Richardson drove to a secluded farm track in Wet Gate Lane, Lymm, 1.3 miles from Paddock Lane, in a bid to dislodge Mr Mullins, who was ‘the single, solid piece of evidence of what he was driving away from’.
He twice attempted to pull Mr Mullins out before he returned to the car and veered sharply and deliberately from side to side before he mounted a grass verge.
His victim was finally released, but he was driven over as Richardson reversed and drove away.
A motorcyclist followed a trail of blood from Paddock Lane and discovered Mr Mullins alone and barely breathing on the grass verge, the court heard.
Emergency services attended but were unable to save Mr Mullins, from Northwich, Cheshire, who died from multiple injuries.
Richardson was arrested the next day after a police vehicle pursuit.
Richardson, of no fixed address, was also found guilty of a separate allegation of dangerous driving on April 21, after a police pursuit before he was arrested.
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