Motorist Gail Purcell, on trial for causing the death through careless driving of cyclist Michael Mason, told police that she “didn’t see” the cyclist when she struck him on London’s Regent Street in February 2014, causing him fatal injuries.
In what is believed to be a legal first, the Cyclists’ Defence Fund has crowdsourced more than £75,000 to bring a private prosecution of the driver after the Metropolitan Police decided not to refer the case to the Crown Prosecution Service.
Gail Purcell, 59, was driving home from her hair salon in Conduit Street, Soho, when she struck Mr Mason, known as Mick, just north of Oxford Circus, reports the London Evening Standard.
Mr Mason, known as Mick and who had been returning home from a visit to the Apple Store on Regent Street, died in hospital 19 days later, shortly after his 70th birthday. He had never regained consciousness.
The Old Bailey heard that following the fatal crash, Purcell, of St Albans, told police: I’m the driver. It was me. Is he okay? I just didn’t see him.”
She also told officers: “I didn’t see anybody from my left. It’s like they came from the sky.”
Simon Spence QC, prosecuting, told the court that one witness had seen Mr Mason "flying through the air" after he was hit from behind by the car Purcell was driving.
Another eyewitness said she believed the motorist was "going really fast," adding "the cyclist flew through the air."
Mr Spence told the court: “For whatever reason, the defendant simply did not see a cyclist in the carriageway ahead of her in the traffic in circumstances where she should have done, and she drove into the back of him, knocking him from his cycle and causing fatal head injuries.
“He was knocked from his cycle by the car driven by the defendant, who was driving in the same direction as Mr Mason.
"He certainly impacted with the bonnet of the car, and fell into the road."
Purcell denies the charge. The trial is scheduled to last for six days.
Please note that for legal reasons we are unable to accept comments on this story.
Cycling infrastructure does not force drivers to break the law, drivers are the reason they break the law, no one else.
Ah but taking pictures of things to defy the man (avoid a fine) is righteous. Taking pictures of people to grass on them to the cops (perhaps...
But getting paid for it is the very definition of professional....
Never had a Shimano QR fail on me. They just work. And the top end ones look good too....
If you're only looking at the guy in front of you then you're going to crash whatever brakes you have, you need to look beyond them to anticipate...
As a woman, this works great for me! My chain broke once, and a kind guy stopped with a chain breaker and sorted it all out for me. We stopped at a...
Same. I also have gone through a bunch of their tyres, and only the extralight disappointed (torn sidewall) but the standards are fantastic....
thanks for the ideas....
Indeed - but it's no more inconsistent than our current road design - very often UK high streets are "for shopping" and also a busy through route....
If you ask the world's leading economic commentators how many people have been rescued from abject poverty by capitalism the average answer would...