[A] FOOTBALL agent was involved in mobile phone message exchanges moments before his car ploughed into two traffic officers on the M6, a court has heard.
Peter Morrison, 37, had an ongoing text conversation “with a number of people” on his mobile phone while driving south on the motorway. These included his wife Siobhan, along with business colleagues and clients including several footballers.
Just before 12-10pm on February 21, Morrison’s southbound Mercedes ML 4×4 veered off the M6 in “atrocious” wet and windy weather south of Tebay. It struck 51-year-old highways workers Adam Gibb and Paul Holroyd on the hard shoulder as they watched two crashed vehicles being recovered.
Mr Gibb, of Penrith, was killed while his Kirkby Stephen-based colleague was seriously injured and left permanently paralysed from the chest down. Morrison, of The Warke, Worsley, Manchester, admits his careless driving was responsible for the pair’s respective death and injuries, but denies driving dangerously.
On day three of his trial at Carlisle Crown Court today (WED), jurors learned the content of messages sent and received by the agent’s phone before the fatal smash.
The final WhatsApp message Morrison sent was 96 seconds before the collision, to Nottingham Forest striker Zach Clough.
Minutes earlier, Morrison had asked Mr Clough: “Do you have a vid of the goal?” Mr Clough responded: “Not saved on my phone, no.” The player followed up: “Have you seen it?”
Morrison replies “yes” before sending a internet link to the player 96 seconds before the Mercedes recorded the collision. Several minutes afterwards, Mr Clough responded: “Not bad was it, ha ha.”
Earlier in his journey, Morrison had been in message contact with young Manchester City defender Cameron Humphreys.
The court has heard Morrison was travelling at an average of 81mph in the 23 miles before the fatal smash.
But Morrison is said to deny driving too fast immediately before the crash, and further denies being distracted by his phone at the time of impact.
He was seen to be clearly shaken and “dazed” immediately after the incident. He told police he had lost control of his vehicle and “just felt like I was on ice”.
The trial continues.
