Truck driver admits causing death of Olympic cyclist Chris Boardman’s mother

A DRIVER has pleaded guilty to causing the death of the mother of Olympic cyclist Chris Boardman.

Liam Rosney, 33, admitted causing the death of Carol Boardman by careless driving.

His plea was made as his trial was due to start at Mold Crown Court yesterday. He denied the more serious charge of causing death by dangerous driving.

Matthew Curtis, prosecuting, said the Crown had considered the situation with police, family liaison officers and experts.

He said: “In those circumstances we do not invite a trial in relation to count one.”

Mrs Boardman, 75, whose cyclist son Chris won gold at the 1992 Olympics, was hit by Mr Rosney’s Mitsubishi pick-up truck after falling from her bike on a mini-roundabout in Connah’s Quay, North Wales, on July 16, 2016. Rosney, of Connah’s Quay, had originally faced trial in July but the jury was discharged.

It was alleged that he was on the phone to his wife Victoria seconds before the crash happened. Yesterday, a jury was sworn in for the trial, which had been expected to last three or four days, but was discharged after Rosney changed his plea on the charge of death by careless driving.

Mr Curtis said that in the minutes before the crash, at the junction of Mold Road and Ffordd Llanarth, Rosney took three separate phone calls while driving his Mitsubishi, which did not have a hands-free facility.

He said: “The phone was being used on speaker mode, not requiring the defendant to handle the phone as he was talking, but plainly to accept or reject or end calls.”

The court heard that witness Kayleigh Anders saw the defendant looking down towards his lap and talking, which gave the impression he was on the phone.

Judge Rhys Rowlands adjourned sentencing until January 31 and told Rosney that all options, including custody, would be open to him.