Mother finds son dead in a ditch after he was mowed down by driver
Mother finds son, 22, lying dead in a ditch after tracing his iPhone to spot where he was mowed down by banned hit-and-run driver
- Josh Ashworth, 22, was hit by a BMW driven by disqualified Cole Tresidder, 22
- Tragically, Mr Ashworth was found lying face down in a ditch by his own mother
A mother found her son lying dead in a ditch after tracing his iPhone to the spot where it emerged he had been struck by a banned hit and run driver.
Josh Ashworth, 22, was walking home along an A-road when he was hit by a BMW driven by disqualified Cole Tresidder, a court heard.
Tressider, also 22, was jailed for seven years and two months on Friday by a judge who said his decision not to report the collision led to Mr Ashworth’s family finding him dead themselves.
Prosecutor Steven Gosnell told how Mr Ashworth had been in contact with his family during the evening of April 22 last year.
But when he failed to return home the next morning they began searching.
Josh Ashworth, 22, was found dead by his own mother after being hit by a car in a hit-and-run
Tressider, 22, was jailed for seven years and two months on Friday. He did not report the incident to the police, leading to Mr Ashworth’s family finding his dead body themselves
Mr Gosnell said the victim’s family and friends went to the location on the A52 after his iPhone showed it was stationary at the scene near Somerby Hill, Lincolnshire.
Tragically, Mr Ashworth was found lying face down in a ditch by his own mother, Rachael, just after 7am, Mr Gosnell said.
In a moving victim impact statement, Mrs Ashworth described the horror of going to look for her son and finding him dead.
Mrs Ashworth turned to Tresidder and said: ‘Why would anyone leave this beautiful human being on the side of the road?’
She added: ‘I could have been spared finding my son with those horrific injuries.’
Mrs Ashworth said she had been ‘haunted for days and days’ while the family waited to discover if her son had remained alive for a period of time following the collision.
The court heard it was eventually established that Mr Ashworth died instantly of a fractured skull.
She described Josh as her ‘beautiful, complex and loving son,’ adding: ‘My life as I knew it ended on Saturday 23 April.’
Lincoln Crown Court heard Tresidder had fled the scene and failed to report the collision despite the damage to the BMW which he had abandoned nearby.
Shortly before the collision Tresidder was seen by another vehicle whose occupants considered he was driving in excess of the speed limit, Mr Gosnell said.
Lincolnshire Police collision investigator PC Godfrey Barlow also concluded Tresidder was driving above 60mph when he hit Josh, who was walking in the same direction towards Grantham.
The court heard Tresidder handed himself into a local police station the day after the collision, after reading reports of a road fatality on social media.
The defendant failed to provide a specimen to officers and said he did not report the collision – which he said he thought had been with a deer – because he was a banned driver and had no insurance.
The court heard Tressider’s ban related to a conviction for driving without due care and attention the previous December, when he crashed into parked cars in Grantham.
On that occasion Tresidder was found to be in possession of 39 wraps of cocaine valued at up to £1,560 and over £1,000 in cash after trying to speed away from a police car.
Tresidder, of Springfield Road, Leicester, had admitted a charge of causing death by careless driving and failing to provide a specimen.
He also pleaded guilty to driving a black BMW while disqualified and having no insurance when the collision occurred on the A52 at Somerby Hill, Grantham, on April 22 last year.
He also admitted possessing cocaine and with intent to supply on 8 December, 2021.
In her victim statement, Mr Ashworth’s mother Rachael described the horror of finding her dead son, who had sustained horrific injuries
Passing sentence Judge Catarina Sjolin Knight said it had been reasonable not to expect a pedestrian on that stretch of road.
But Judge Sjolin Knight told Tresidder his actions led to Mr Ashworth’s family discovering his body themselves.
‘Using a tracking App on his phone it was his mother who found Josh in a ditch by the A52,’ Judge Sjolin Knight added.
‘In her words “her beautiful boy dead by the side of the road”.’
Tresidder was jailed for 86 months and banned from driving for 77 months. He must also take an extended retest.
Source: Read Full Article