Accused driver in road death of NI man had no licence

A YOUNG Co Antrim man died after being struck by a speeding car driven by a motorist who had spent the evening drinking with friends, it was alleged in an English court yesterday.

The unlicensed driver, Thomas Bimson, did not stop at the scene along Liverpool’s waterfront, but sped off in a high performance BMW 330X hired by his front seat passenger Ibrar Saddique and did not hand himself in to police for three days.

The two men abandoned the vehicle and got a taxi back to Bimson’s nearby home.

It took them past the scene of the tragedy where emergency services were trying to treat the 24-year-old victim Matthew Bradley, and the driver commented that “it didn’t look good”.

The city’s Crown Court was told that Mr Bradley, a landscape gardener from Glenavy, had crossed two lanes of The Strand by the Hilton Hotel at about 11.45 pm on November 3, 2017 before being struck by the BMW.

Matthew Bradley was hit by a car allegedly driven by Thomas Bimson (right)

Opening the prosecution case, Martine Snowdon told the jury: “He was thrown through the air

for a distance of around 30 metres landing in the middle of the carriageway.

“The impact was seen by a number of witnesses. People made over to him and stopped the traffic to try and offer any assistance they could to him.

“The BMW, however, made no attempt to stop and sped off down the Strand whilst Matthew Bradley lay on the floor with catastrophic injuries.

“Whilst the paramedics attended to do what they could the efforts to help him were futile and he was pronounced dead at the Royal Liverpool University Hospital at 2.30am.

“The cause of death was massive blunt force head and neck injuries.”

Bimson (23), of Waterloo Warehouse, Vauxhall, Liverpool, who had never taken a driving test, has pleaded not guilty to causing the death of Mr Bradley by dangerous driving.

He also denies two further offences involving causing death by driving without insurance and without a licence.

Saddique (34), of Sunnybank Lane, Pudsey, West Yorkshire, denies the offence of aiding and abetting causing death by driving while uninsured.