Driver who hit Callum Rycroft cleared of dangerous driving
Prosecutors accepted that Shahid Ilyas, 48, was not responsible for the death of Callum Rycroft, who died on the M62 in West Yorkshire[1] on August 5 last year when he was hit by the defendant’s black Toyota.
But they alleged that he drove dangerously after the collision, saying he did not stop as soon as he safely could, despite “massive damage” to his windscreen which severely impeded his view of the road.
On Friday, Mr Ilyas was cleared of one count of dangerous driving by a jury after just over an hour of deliberations at Bradford Crown Court.
Earlier, the defendant told the jury how he had been left a “broken man” by the collision, which happened after Callum, who was autistic, was left in the middle of the M62 near Huddersfield by his drunken father, who has already been jailed for manslaughter.
The jury of six men and six women was shown footage of the fatal collision on the motorway.
It heard that the incident happened after Callum’s father, Matthew Rycroft, was driving drunk on the motorway and overturned his Audi Q5 on the slip road to Hartshead Moor services.
Rycroft and Callum left the vehicle and were seen on CCTV, shown to the court on Friday, walking along the busy M62 in the dark before crossing into the central reservation.
At one point, Rycroft was seen falling over and being helped up by Callum.
He then crossed back over to the hard shoulder and was followed by Callum, who ran directly into the path of Mr Ilyas’s Toyota.
Rycroft made it to the other side and carried on walking without looking back for his son.
Last year, Rycroft was sentenced to 10 years in prison after pleading guilty to manslaughter, driving dangerously and failing to provide a specimen.
On Friday, Mr Ilyas told the jury: “I was driving along at a normal speed, minding my own business[2] and suddenly there was a loud bang and the windscreen bowed in.”
He said: “I was in shock and I was traumatised. I didn’t know if I was dead or alive.”
Mr Ilyas told the court how he squeezed his leg to see if he could feel anything, because he did not know if what was happening to him was real or a nightmare.
He told the jury: “I know I look normal on the outside but inside I’m a broken man.”
Mr Ilyas said: “My life has been turned upside down because of this accident and it was not my fault.
“I did not create this accident. I did not commit a crime and I’ve been treated like a criminal.”
Mr Ilyas described how, immediately after the collision, he put on his hazard lights and pulled the Toyota to the left hand side of the motorway and got out of the vehicle.
But he said he realised there was no hard shoulder on this stretch of so-called smart motorway and he was in a live lane with traffic “flying past”.
The defendant said: “I was thinking to go to a service station and that’s what I did, and that’s what it says in the Highway Code.”
Prosecutors told the jury Mr Ilyas drove on after the collision for about two-a-half miles, claiming he ignored at least two clear places to stop, before pulling into an Esso service station on Whitehall Lane, in Bradford, and ringing his car hire company.
But Mr Ilyas told the jury: “I went left, left and left again and I reached a service station which was probably three or four minutes from the motorway.”
The defendant told the jury that he did not know what he had hit and thought it may have been an animal or something that had fallen off a truck.
He said he only realised what had actually happened the next day when stories about Callum’s death appeared in the news.
The court has heard how Mr Ilyas, of Moorfield Chase, Farnworth, Bolton, then contacted a solicitor for advice who rang the police on his behalf.
He told the court he has not been able to drive since the incident due to the trauma.
Michael Smith, prosecuting, said the defendant still faces charges of failing to stop after a road accident and failing to report that accident, but these will now be reviewed by the Crown Prosecution Service in the light of Friday’s verdict.
Judge Kirstie Watson said she agreed with the decision to review these charges.