Fatal-crash motorist not guilty of careless driving

Accident left motorcyclist dead and child with severe brain injury

The motorist involved in a fatal accident on the A28, in which a motorcyclist died, was NOT driving carelessly, a jury has decided.

Adam Coates was killed when his courtesy bike struck a vehicle driven by Claire Calnan, 39, on a summer’s day in July last year.

Mrs Calnan, who had denied a charge of causing death by careless driving, was turning across the road and into Godmersham village hall.

A jury at Canterbury Crown Court heard that a child injured in the accident “died” twice at the scene, was revived, but has suffered severe brain injury.

Mr Coates’ wife, Amy, had told how the couple had spent the day together in Canterbury, where he had left his Honda 600 motorbike to be serviced.

Mr Coates was given a courtesy bike from Kent Motorcycles and left for home minutes ahead of his wife, who was driving the family car.

She later told police how she came upon an incident and pulled over to try to track her husband through an app on her iPhone.

She said: “I knew Adam was in front of me and I just had a bad feeling. The app said he was near and on that road. I just knew.

“I got out of the car and went over to see what was happening. “I saw him in the road.” Claire Calnan, 39, of Faversham Road, Kennington had told the court how she was heading for the village hall and had slowed down and looked both ways before making the turn. She said: “I checked there were no cars coming down towards me.”

The jury heard how she had said to a motorist at the scene: “Where did he come from? I had my indicator on from right back there. He came out of nowhere.”

Mrs Calnan wept when she gave evidence, saying the accident had “changed everyone’s life forever” and adding: “If I had a magic wand I would want to change it back”.

Prosecutor Dianne Chann told the jury: “Mr Coates was not a bad motorcyclist. He was not at fault, because he was riding on the correct side of the road and properly positioned in the road.”

The jury took more than seven hours before returning a not guilty verdict last Wednesday.

How we reported on the trial last week