Derby

Richard Cooper drove “straight through” the cyclist on Derby Road, Tapton (Photo: Google)

Richard Cooper, who had functional neurological dystonia, drove “straight through” the cyclist on Derby Road, Tapton, in his van while talking on the phone, hands-free.

Video footage played to Derby Crown Court showed him with partially and fully closed eyes while stuttering – all symptoms of the condition – prior to the accident.

He hit the cyclist – who was hospitalised for 15 days – from behind. The victim suffered a fractured spine, fractured hip, punctured lung, rib fractures and a broken nose.

However the court heard Cooper’s speed in his work van on the 50mph was not excessive or a relevant factor during the crash on March 28, 2022. And while he was speaking on the phone it was entirely legal as he was using hands-free technology.

In a victim statement read out to the court the injured cyclist said: “I was so scared I had brain damage, I feared the worst.” A doctor’s report stated Cooper, 51, would have been aware of his condition, but the court heard patients “frequently find ways of coping”.

A prosecutor told the court: “Mr Cooper may not have recognised the extent of his condition. It’s clear throughout the duration of the driving that he is not seeing clearly.”

Cooper’s defence barrister said the defendant was diagnosed with the condition at the end of 2021. Although he had stopped driving as the symptoms worsened, he was back behind the wheel regularly in 2022.

Judge Reynolds, noting that Cooper’s health would make custody “quite awful”, said: “He would quite simply be a burden on the prison system. In the circumstances I do not believe there’s any real public interest in sending him to prison today.”

Cooper was handed two years jail suspended for two years, a lifetime driving ban and 35 rehabilitation activity days.

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