COACH MOWED DOWN MAN ‘TO ESCAPE BEING TRAPPED’
Convicted rapist, 32, ‘panicked’ when confronted at beauty spot
FOOTBALL coach Ryan Connor mowed down a man at a secluded beauty spot.
The 32-year-old went to Park Hall Country Park, above right, to meet a woman but she didn’t turn up.
Instead a man arrived and parked in front of Connor’s Mercedes. Stoke-ontrent Crown Court heard Connor – a convicted rapist – panicked and drove off, hitting the man who ended up on the bonnet before being dragged under the car.
Now Connor, who was jailed for six years in 2022 for raping two women, has been handed a 12-month concurrent jail sentence. It means his prison release date will not change.
Prosecutor Jonathan Dickinson said the incident happened at Park Hall Country Park on July 8, 2020. Connor had arranged to meet a woman there and arrived at the secluded beauty spot expecting her to arrive in her car.
But a man arrived and blocked Connor’s exit. Mr Dickinson said: “He tried to leave but was forced to reverse back by the movement of the man’s car. The man approached the defendant. The defendant panicked. He accepts his vehicle hit the man who sustained injuries.”
The court heard the man was thrown on to the bonnet of Connor’s car and his head hit the windscreen. Mr Dickinson said: “He grabbed hold of the bonnet lip just below the windscreen wipers. The vehicle picked up speed. He was dragged under the car. The defendant fled the scene.
“The man managed to crawl back to his car and call 999. He was taken to hospital. He had cuts and bruises, four fractured ribs, a fractured hip joint and a collapsed lung.”
Connor handed himself into the police the next day. He said the man was threatening him and he panicked and drove away. He added he tried to swerve to avoid hitting the man.
In a victim statement, made more than three years ago, the man said he spent time in a wheelchair and suffered a great deal of pain. He did not sleep properly for weeks and had nightmares. He added he suffered financially as a result of his injuries.
Connor, formerly of Longley Road, Longton, pleaded guilty to assault occasioning actual bodily harm.
Darron Whitehead, mitigating, said Connor was a football coach and leading a ‘sensible life’ before he ‘fell into error with the two rape matters’. He said Connor is due for release in February next year and urged Judge Michael Maher to make the sentence for this offence concurrent and not consecutive.
He said Connor has not sat idle in prison and had not ‘given up.’ Instead he has become an ‘asset to the prison environment.’ Mr Whitehead said: “It was a reckless incident. It was not premeditated, not intentional.”
He said a witness said the man had something in his hand which could account for the cracked windscreen. Mr Whitehead added: “This was a fast-moving incident. An individual described the man shouting as he got out of his car. His car blocked the exit of Mr Connor.”
Judge Maher told Connor: “You infer that your assault with the car was a reckless one, a split second decision to escape being trapped.
“He followed you in his car. He parked his car immediately in front of yours and walked towards you. You drove at speed away from the area but you were sufficiently close that you hit him. He jumped to one side but he still collided with your car. It is said his head impacted with the screen and cracked the glass.”
He said Mr Whitehead had skilfully persuaded him to make the sentence a concurrent one. Judge Maher added: “I am told you have been channelling your energies in a very positive manner during your sentence and are due for release in February next year.”