Death-crash driver in guilty verdict

GUILTY... Henry Barker

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A TWENTY- year old Oldham man who knocked down and killed a boy in a hit and run crash early this year has been found guilty of causing death by dangerous driving.

Henry Barker, who was not even insured to drive the Mercedes car involved, had accepted causing death by careless driving, and admitted driving dangerously after failing to stop because he panicked.

He maintained throughout a trial - lasting almost a week at Manchester's Minshull Street Crown Court - however, that though he had been travelling at twice the 20mph limit for the area in Ashton under Lyne where the incident happened in the late afternoon of February 29, he had not been driving dangerously.

Michael Morley prosecuting, had put it to him during cross examination that he "didn't give a damn" about innocent pedestrians as he "went tearing" along Moss Street West - described as a narrow back street, flanked by parked cars - towards the Hamza Mosque where Shahzaib, his father and uncles had just attended prayers.

Trial judge Mark Savill, who will sentence him next week, told him he fully agreed with the jury verdict, adding: "This was an appalling piece of driving."

Barker claimed he been offered the chance to drive the car by a friend, but had not been familiar with the car's automatic gearbox, or used to the power of its engine.

He said he had been unfamiliar with that area of Ashton, and had not noticed 20 mph speed limit signs, claiming he had not thought he was speeding.

The jury had been told after failing to stop when he hit the boy, hurling him into the air, Barker had driven recklessly in a bid to get away, overtaking cars on the wrong side of the road, going through lights on red, and going the wrong way round a mini roundabout.

Before sending the jury of nine men and three women out to consider their verdict, trial judge Mark Savill had urged them to "keep a cool head and put emotions aside".

He said: "You must approach this calmly and with care.You must view it dispassionately. There is no room for a knee-jerk reaction coming from the heart."

He told them after the verdict had been given: "This was a sensitive and difficult case and you gave it your full attention and care. I thank you for bearing that responsibility."