Man handed community order after killing motorcyclist in crash

Livestock auctioneer Martin Lloyd admitted responsibility for Jay Brownhill's death in the collision in a Warwickshire village in October 2018.

Lloyd, 24, had originally denied a charge of causing death by careless driving – but changed his plea to guilty at a pre-trial hearing at Warwick Crown Court.

Prosecuting, Paul Dhami, said at around 1.30pm on October 23, 2018, Lloyd was driving X-type Jaguar along Stoneleigh Road, away from Stoneleigh village.

Heading the opposite way from the direction of the A46 Kenilworth bypass was 21-year-old Jay Brownhill, from Wednesbury, on a black Yamaha with a pillion passenger.

But Lloyd, who Judge Sylvia de Bertodano observed should have had the Yamaha in view for up to ten seconds, made a right turn across the road into the entrance to a field which had a locked gate.

Mr Dhami said: "The motorcycle and the Jaguar collided, with the bike hitting the front passenger side door.

“The rider was thrown from the motorcycle and made contact with the passenger door and then went onto the roof of the Jaguar and into the road, and died as a result of his injuries.”

The court heard that a woman driving behind Lloyd said he had slowed down and indicated appropriately before pulling into the farm gap – and she had not noticed any on-coming traffic, until she heard the sound of the collision.

Mr Dhami added that Mr Brownhill had been disqualified from driving, while the bike's MOT had expired, its rear number plate had been tampered with and the tread on one tyre was below the legal limit. But a collision expert did not consider those defects had been a factor in the collision itself, the court heard.

Alexander Barbour, defending, said Lloyd had been driving cars since he was 17, and tractors since he was 16 – and "has never troubled the courts before". He pointed out that Lloyd uses his car to get to and from work, and the disqualification "will have an impact on his

Lloyd was given 12-month community order with a condition of residence at his home in Dassett Road, Farnborough, near Banbury, for one week, and banned from driving for a year.

In sentencing him, she said: "You were on the Stoneleigh Road on the October 23, 2018, when you made a mistake and turned right in front of an oncoming motorcycle. You didn’t see it, and you should have.

“There were aspects about that motorcycle and its riders which suggest it might not have been being driven in a legal way – but you should have seen it.

"You made the sort of mistake many drivers do on a daily basis and it’s your misfortune, as well and Mr Brownhill’s, that he was injured and died."