A MOTORIST has told a jury he did not try to avoid detection by police after his car was involved in a fatal A66 collision with a pedestrian.
Matthew Paul Leggett, 24, is on trial. He denies one charge which alleges he did acts tending and intended to pervert the course of public justice following the tragic crash near Keswick just before 12-30am on April 7 last year.
Carlisle Crown Court has heard 61-year-old James Greenwood, of Shropshire, suffered fatal injuries when he was struck by Leggett’s BMW while trying to cross an unlit stretch of the A66 on foot.
Leggett faces no charges in relation to the collision itself. A police investigator concluded his vehicle swerved immediately before impact, and that his actions “were those expected of a reasonable and competent driver”. Jurors have heard Leggett, of Sonnets Way, Cockermouth, does admit post-crash dangerous driving after travelling for 12 miles with a smashed windscreen; failing to report an accident; and failing to stop afterwards.
But Leggett denies the prosecution’s allegation he also “abandoned” his car beside secluded woodland, and “deliberately disposed” of his mobile phone – which was never recovered – after calling a friend immediately after the collision to arrange a pick-up.
Giving evidence this afternoon (WED), Leggett recalled seeing people alongside the A66 moments before the collision, and then “a big bang on my windscreen”. He didn’t know he’d hit a person. “If I’d known I’d hit Mr Greenwood I would have stopped,” he said.
In shock, Leggett called his friend before his mobile phone battery died. They met at secluded Setmurthy Woods – a place he said they both knew well – where he left his badly-damaged car before being driven to Cockermouth. He didn’t know where his mobile phone went, but denied disposing of it.
Anthony Parkinson, defending, asked: “At any point, were you intending to frame somebody else for this?”
“Definitely not, no,” Leggett replied.
“Were you trying to hide the vehicle from police?” asked Mr Parkinson.
Leggett responded: “No.”
Mr Parkinson asked: “Were you trying to hide your phone so that the police couldn’t uncover the contents between you and your friend?”
Leggett replied: “No, I wasn’t. No.”
The trial continues.
