Jury sent out in trial of motorist accused of causing death of St Helens motorcyclist

Gordon Hyland, 50 of Bexton Lane in Knutsford, pleaded not guilty to the charge and during his trial at Chester Crown Court, maintained he had not seen motorcyclist Ian Glanister before the fateful collision on March 28 last year.

Mr Glanister, from Parr, St Helens had been riding his Suzuki motorbike along the A50 Manchester Road, heading in the direction of Pickmere when he collided with a silver Mercedes being driven by Hyland.

The trial heard how Hyland had been pulling out of the junction of the Cottons Hotel on to the A50 and had not seen the motorbike, which was travelling behind a black BMW that was making a left turn into the same hotel.

In summing up the evidence presented during the trial, His Honour Judge Everett, The Honorary Recorder for Chester, said there had been no winners or losers coming out of the tragedy.

He said: "It is not the case whether or not it did or didn't happen, that is not the issue.

"There are several agreed facts between the defence and the prosecution including the advice of two experts."

The evidence provided by the two experts agreed that the motorbike was in a blind spot behind the BMW and was likely to have only been in sight of Hyland for 0.8 of a second, if at all.

In highlighting the evidence of other motorists, Judge Everett explained how the driver of the BMW, Keith Edmondson, had been aware of a motorbike coming up behind in an earlier 40mph zone of the road.

He said: "He caught up with Mr Edmondson before adapting his speed to match that of his BMW.

"Mr Edmondson said how he had expected the motorbike to have overtaken him earlier as he had been on the right hand side of the lane.

"The presence of the bike had made him feel uncomfortable, but he also said how the motorcyclist had held back from going passed until they reached the junction."

Other motorists using the road that day, included the driver of a black Mini which was travelling behind both the BMW and Mr Glanister's bike.

She said how she could not recall seeing the motorbike travelling in front of her until she saw it swerve to the right and collide with the silver Mercedes.

The driver of another Mini travelling in the opposite direction told how she reached the scene and recalled Hyland saying, "I just didn't see him".

Speaking to a police officer at the scene, Hyland told him how he had pulled out and "instantly there was a smash".

Evidence provided by the two experts agreed that Mr Glanister and the BMW had been travelling at around 53mph, less than the 60mph speed limit, as they passed the Guy Salmon Land Rover Dealership, which is about 450 metres away from the hotel junction.

Judge Everett went on to say how the gap between both vehicles had been around 13 metres and according to the "two second rule" should have actually been 45 metres, which meant Mr Glanister had been "too close" to the BMW.

Both experts agreed that once Hyland had pulled out of the junction, it had been "inevitable" the collision would take place.

Judge Everett said: "Had the motorbike been further back than 13 metres then Mr Hyland would have seen it.

"It comes back to that initial view and that was whether or not what Mr Hyland did was the reasonable steps of a sensible driver."

Under cross examination, Mr Hyland admitted how the incident had left him feeling "extremely nervous" as a driver and that he couldn't say he had specifically been looking out for any motorcyclists as he pulled out of the junction, just other vehicles in general.

Judge Everett said: "He didn't specifically think of a bike being behind the car.

"He said he didn't expect it to be there and how he felt the decision to pull out of the junction had been a considered decision.

"He didn't accept that he was to blame for the collision."

After around 90 minutes of deliberations on Friday afternoon, the jury were unable to reach a unanimous decision and were sent home for the weekend.

They will return on Monday morning to continue.