Businessman guilty of causing death of former teacher

A busi nessman has been found guilty of causing the death of a former Whitby teacher by dangerous driving.

Appearing at York Crown Court, Faisal Ali, 28, formerly of Scarborough, was said to have been travelling at about 70mph when he overtook a car i n his Mercedes Benz, which crashed head-on into Leslie Anthony Barrett’s Vauxhall Vectra on a dangerous stretch of the A171 Whitby to Guisborough road.

Mr Barrett, 65, known to friends as Tony, was returning f rom band practice to his home i n Whitby when the accident happened at about 9.20pm on September 8, 2013.

Prosecutor Sophie Drake said that prior to the crash, Ali had been tailgating a car, before overtaking it as Mr Barrett’s vehicle approached in the opposite direction.

Ali claimed he had blacked out after the crash and told police it was Mr Barrett’s car which had been on his side of the road. But evidence from tyre marks revealed this was not the case.

Ms Drake said Ali overtook despite signs warning of a hidden brow and centre white lines prohibiting overtaking. She said although he was a hard-working family man who ran his own business, he had made “a dangerous decision to overtake when he shouldn’t have.”

Defence barrister Adrian Waterman QC claimed Ali may have momentarily veered over the white lines during “a moment of inattention”. He added that Ali had a clean driving licence and no previous convictions, but the jury found Ali guilty of dangerous driving. He will be sentenced at Leeds Crown Court on April 8.