Hughesie in Court

05 August 2004

Wednesday 4 August

Daimler Benz vehicle tester Jeffrey Ward gave evidence about the state of Hughes' car before the collision, and told the court that he was satisfied that the car had been roadworthy. The 5.5 litre Mercedes coupe, worth around ?100,000, had normal tyre pressure, fuses, brake discs and fluid levels. He said the car also had computers to prevent the driver losing control and added "In an emergency, you won't skid." The car, only six months old at the time, was fitted with both ABS and BAS to help prevent the driver from losing control.

Hughes' defence cousel questioned a test which showed that one of the wires linking the braking system to the wheels had earthed and Mr Ward accepted that the car might have skidded if the ABS system was not working in wet weather.

Tuesday 3 August

It was alleged that Hughes had driven "like a madman" leading up to the crash. Motorist Deborah Vallance, not directly involved in the incident, told the court that Hughes rounded a bend "at some speed" on the wrong side of the road before he hit the Renault Scenic and added "The only way I can describe it, to be honest, is that he was driving like a madman. It looked as if it was on the wrong side of the road."

She then told the court of a conversation she had with the man who climed out of the Mercedes: "All I can remember is the driver getting out of the car and putting his hands on his head and bending down and saying: 'I can't believe what has happened, I was only doing 30mph'. I just remember saying: 'There was no way you were doing 30mph'"

Hughes' defence counsel, however, suggested that she had made up the story, because it was not included in her statement to the police. Mrs Vallance answered by saying "You forget things and they come back".

Evidence was also presented regarding the actions of Hughes in the pubs before the incident. One barmaid at the Queen's Head said she served him a double Jack Daniels and Coke, and the licensee also said she had served the same drink but could'nt remember what measure of the whisky was in it.

One of the passengers in Hughes' car, Richard Williams, told the court that he thought that the wheels of the car had locked before the collision, and also said tht he was happy with Hughes' driving to start with but started to feel that he was accelerating more than he was comfortable with. "We seemed to be going quite fast. As we came to the bend before the junction, he started to brake. He was braking quite harshly. I only saw the other car very briefly. I saw the lights... and I can?t remember anything else because I ducked out of the way because I thought we were going to hit it. It felt like (Hughes?) car had got out of control.?

Another passenger, Stephen Knight, told the court that he got a lift with Hughes from the Queen's Head to the Poacher's Retreat and got no impression that Hughes was affected by alcohol. "His driving was perfectly fine and perfectly normal."

Monday 2 August

The long-awaited trial of Lee Hughes started today in Coventry Crown Court following the collision in Pickford Grange Lane, Coventry, on the morning of 23rd November last year.

The Albion striker stood accused of causing death by dangerous driving, along with the relatively minor charges of leaving the scene of an accident and failing to report an accident. Hughes had previously pleaded not guilty and had been released on bail pending a full trial, but one of the bail conditions was that he could not leave the country and he missed out on the recent pre-season tour of Denmark as a result.

The trial began with Hughes pleading guilty to the latter two charges and not guilty to the first. The case for the prosecution then began with information about the statements made to police by Hughes, 36 hours after the incident, when he is said to have told them how he lost control of his car when the brakes locked. The prosecution went on to say that Hughes had visited two pubs in Coventry, where he admitted to police that he had drunk two Jack Daniels, had just a sip of a third and left a fourth untouched.

Albert Frisby, the driver of the other car involved and in which passenger Douglas Graham died, told the court how he saw Hughes' car approaching him on the wrong side of the road, and how he told his passenger "he must be doing 60mph". The force of the impact on his car, a Renault Scenic, span it around and into a lamp post.

Hughes had told police he was doing no more than 50mph before the collision, and knew this because he had looked at his speedometer. He was travelling in his silver Mercedes with a friend and three other men he had just met and offered a lift home.

Further details as the case continues tomorrow. Reports suggest that it could last for up to eight days.

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