Football agent who caused fatal 80mph crash was texting player at the wheel
A FOOTBALL agent faces a ‘ substantial’ jail term for ploughing into two men while distracted by a text conversation on his mobile.
Peter Morrison careered off the M6 motorway in his 4x4 Mercedes, killing father-of-one Adam Gibb, seconds after he had sent a video of a goal to a player.
Morrison, 37, a married father of one, was yesterday found guilty of causing death and injury by dangerous driving at Carlisle Crown Court.
He had been speeding at an average of 81mph before the crash, despite 50mph limits on the route and ‘atrocious’ weather. One driver said the car went past him ‘like a missile’. As
Morrison exchanged travelled 25 WhatsApp along messages the road he in 17 minutes, the court heard.
But as he neared Tebay, Cumbria, he veered across three lanes of the motorway into the hard shoulder, smashing at speed into highways traffic officers Adam Gibb and Paul Holroyd. Mr Gibb, 51, from Penrith, was killed and Mr Holroyd, now 52, was seriously injured and left permanently paralysed from the chest down.
In a statement to the court, Mr Gibb’s family said that he had been a ‘fantastic dad and a wonderful husband’. Yesterday a jury unanimously found Morrison, from Manchester, guilty.
He sat with his head bowed and slumped forward in his seat in the dock as the verdict was given. Judge Peter Davies adjourned the case and bailed Morrison as an ‘act of mercy’ until his sentencing on November 23. Defence lawyer John Dye told the judge: ‘ As Mr Morrison has been told, the inevitable outcome of the jury’s verdict is that he will receive a substantial custodial sentence.’ On February 21 last year condi- tions on the M6 were ‘ horrible’ and ‘hazardous’ with strong winds, heavy rain and standing water, police said.
Morrison sent the last text to Championship footballer Zach Clough, a video link to his recent goal, just 96 seconds before the impact. Morrison was said to have asked Mr Clough: ‘Do you have a video of the goal?’
The former Bolton Wanderers player replied: ‘Not saved on my phone, no.’ He followed up with the message: ‘Have you seen it?’
Morrison replied ‘yes’ several minutes later before sending a link to video footage of the goal.
Mr Clough sent a text, received after the crash, which read: ‘Not bad was it, ha ha.’
After the verdict, paralysed Mr Holroyd, from Kirkby Stephen, Cumbria, said: ‘Today justice has been served on Mr Morrison, but this will not mitigate the pain and suffering his actions have caused with the loss of life of my friend and colleague Adam Gibb.
‘I would urge everybody to take more care whilst driving, especially when using the motorways. And to not, under any circumstances, be tempted to use a mobile phone while driving.’
He added: ‘As this case has proved, lives can change forever in the blink of an eye.’