Driver convicted of murder after cyclist dragged more than a mile under 4×4; sentencing due Monday

A 35-year-old driver has been convicted of murder after a headteacher cycling home from work was dragged for more than a mile beneath his four-by-four. Simon Richardson will be sentenced on Monday at Manchester Minshull Street Crown Court.

What the jury heard about the collision

Michael Mullins, 56, a father of two from Northwich, Cheshire, was riding home from Stretford Grammar School, where he was headteacher, on the early evening of 20 April. The court heard he was struck by a Volvo XC90 driven by Richardson on Paddock Lane in Warburton, Greater Manchester. Prosecutors said Richardson drove through give-way markings and into the cyclist’s path.

Mr Mullins fell onto the bonnet and windscreen before being drawn under the vehicle, where he became entangled in the suspension, the jury was told. Richardson, who is of no fixed address, kept driving.

The prosecution case: a deliberate decision to drive on

Phil Barnes KC, prosecuting, told jurors that Richardson knew the cyclist was beneath the car “and he inevitably knew what the consequences of driving on would be, and he did it anyway”. He said that for “a split second” Richardson may have considered getting out to help, but “chose to drive away”. The Crown’s suggested reason was that he wanted to escape the consequences of what he had done.

Key evidence came from Richardson’s front-seat passenger, his cousin Gabrielle Debotte. Giving evidence for the prosecution, she said both of them heard “moaning” from outside as the car pulled away, and that Richardson then said: “He’s under the car.”

The court heard Richardson drove 1.3 miles to a secluded farm track on Wet Gate Lane in Lymm. The Crown said this was an attempt to dislodge Mr Mullins, whom it described as “the single, solid piece of evidence of what he was driving away from”. Richardson twice tried to pull him out, the court heard, before returning to the car and veering sharply from side to side and mounting a grass verge.

Mr Mullins was finally released but was then driven over as Richardson reversed and drove off, the jury heard. A motorcyclist who followed a trail of blood from the collision site found him alone and barely breathing on the verge. Emergency services attended but could not save him, and he died from multiple injuries.

Defence argument and verdicts

Richardson was arrested the following day after a police vehicle pursuit. He denied murder, telling the court he did not realise Mr Mullins was under his car and that he did not get out to try to free him.

In his closing speech, defence counsel Jaime Hamilton KC told jurors they would be likely to hold his client “in contempt”. He acknowledged that Richardson’s actions led to Mr Mullins’s death and described him as having acted in “the most selfish of ways”. He argued, however, that this did not make Richardson guilty of the homicide offences on the indictment. The jury rejected that argument.

Jurors retired on Wednesday and returned at about 11.45am on Friday. Richardson was convicted of murder and was also found guilty of a separate charge of dangerous driving on 21 April, relating to the police pursuit before his arrest. Members of Mr Mullins’s family in the public gallery wept as the verdicts were read out.

Family tribute and what happens next

In a statement, Mr Mullins’s family said: “He was devoted to his family and our lives will never be the same. A gap has been left in our hearts and within his role as a headteacher of Stretford Grammar School.”

The trial judge, Mrs Justice Brunner KC, excused the jurors from jury service for 10 years. She acknowledged the case had been “upsetting” and that some of the evidence may have been distressing. She will sentence Richardson on Monday, when the court is expected to set out the term he must serve after being convicted of murder.

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