A man heard he could be jailed after he admitted his careless driving caused the death of a passenger following a crash on the A596 in north Cumbria.
Shaun Hillary, 41, appeared in front of a judge at Carlisle Crown Court earlier today.
Hillary admitted that he caused the death of Ben Law by driving a BMW 330D without due care and attention. The charge was brought after a two-vehicle collision on the road close Dockray Hall, between Micklethwaite and Wigton, at around 8.40pm on March 21 2021.
This involved a DAF milk tanker travelling to join the main road and an eastbound BMW being driven by Hillary in which there were two passengers, including Mr Law in the front seat.
Mr Law, 22, of Wigton, died at Newcastle’s Royal Victoria Infirmary on April 3 2021.
During an earlier magistrates’ court hearing, the prosecution alleged that Hillary was travelling too fast at the time of the tragic collision.
In the crown court today, defence solicitor Mark Shepherd said a formal written document outlining the basis for Hillary’s guilty plea had been submitted.
Referring to prior out-of-court discussions between the prosecution and defence, Mr Shepherd said two paragraphs in that document were likely to be the subject of disagreement. As a result, the defence were planning to obtain an expert’s report to address those issues in response to the conclusions of a police collision investigator.
As that was likely to take several months, Judge Richard Archer adjourned the hearing until late November, setting aside two days for the hearing of any evidence and then Hillary’s sentencing.
A probation service pre-sentence report was requested in the meantime.
Hillary, of Thurston Drive, Wigton, was granted bail but told he must now serve an interim driving ban. The precise length of a mandatory disqualification that he faces will be announced when his punishment is handed down later this year.
Judge Archer told Hillary the fact he was adjourning the case and requesting a probation service report should not be taken as any indication of what his eventual punishment would be. “All sentencing options, including an immediate custodial sentence, will remain open to the court when you are eventually sentenced in this case,” said the judge.
