Prosecutors have asked for time to consider whether they will seek a retrial on the more serious charge Terrence King faced after a jury was unable to reach a verdict
A driver who went on trial accused of murder following the death of a teenager in a crash has been found guilty of manslaughter.
A jury was directed to find Terrence King guilty of the alternative charge on Wednesday (January 28). It came after trial jurors were unable to reach a verdict on the murder charge.
King, 59, was earlier accused of ‘deliberately’ driving his car onto the pavement, hitting 15-year-old Devon Simmons-Caines last summer.
Minshull Street Crown Court heard King acted ‘in temper’ in hitting the teenager, who was riding a stolen e-bike on Rowrah Crescent in Langley, Middleton. The incident was captured on CCTV cameras from neighbouring homes.
On Wednesday, the court was told jurors had been unable to reach a verdict on the murder charge. Mukul Chawla KC, King’s barrister, asked for him to be rearraigned on the charge of manslaughter, to which he pleaded guilty.
The jury was asked to reach a guilty verdict on an alternative charge. Prosecutors have asked for time to consider whether they will seek a retrial on the murder charge. A further hearing will be held on February 10.
King made a ‘deliberate decision’ to steer his Vauxhall Insignia ‘in temper’ towards Devon, causing multiple ‘unsurvivable’ injuries, prosecutors earlier alleged. Devon was riding an ‘expensive’ e-bike he and another youth had ‘robbed’ earlier that day, it was said.
People in the public gallery wept as the footage was played to jurors in court. “You can see [the car] steering towards him and further showing no signs of slowing down, not braking but manoeuvring into direct collision with Devon on the bike,” prosecutor Michael Hayton KC told the trial.
King admitted he had been driving ‘well in excess’ of the 20mph limit for the road prior to the crash, on July 22 last year, and estimated he had been travelling at between 30 and 40 mph.
Mr Chawla KC asked his client: “What was it that you were going to do?” The defendant replied: “I was just looking for the bike.”
King said he first saw the e-bike prior to the crash. King said he hadn’t thought about what he’d do if he came across the bike.
Asked why he turned the vehicle to the left prior to the collision, King said: “Because I had seen the bike and made the decision to try and block the bike in.”
He accepted there was no evidence of him applying the brakes. Asked why, he said: “I can’t explain why I didn’t brake.”
King denied having any intention to kill or seriously injure Devon, or to damage the bike. He said: “The manoeuvre was my reaction as I saw the bike. I have no answer why there was no braking.”
Mr Chawla asked: “Are you in a position to explain why that collision happened in the way that it happened?” The defendant replied: “No.”
Under cross-examination by Mr Hayton KC, King accepted it was his ‘fault’ that Devon died, but he denied having any intent to kill or injure the teenager.
“How do you feel now about what you did?,” Mr Hayton asked the defendant. “Ashamed, guilty,” he replied.
King, of Castlerrigg Drive, Middleton, was remanded into custody.
