A TOP race horse trainer is accused of sending a teen “flying through the air” after ramming into his bike with his Land Rover.
Hughie Morrison, 64, allegedly left a 17-year-old needing surgery for a badly fractured leg after smashing into him with his 4×4 in a row over the youngster approaching his land.
Race horse trainer Hughie Morrison arrives at Reading Crown Court on a assault charge this morning[/caption]
He was left with two shattered legs and unable to walk for months[/caption]
Morrison denies causing serious injury by dangerous driving[/caption]
The Eton-educated estate owner, whose stables span 100 acres, is said to have flown into a rage after spotting the boy using a pit bike near his horse gallops in East Ilsley, Berkshire, on April 23 last year.
Prosecutor David Tremain told Reading Crown Court the victim and two of his friends had been riding along a public track called the Ridgeway, which was not open to vehicles, when the defendant heard their bikes and went to track them down in his Land Rover.
Morrison is said to have stopped to take photographs of the lads, who cannot be named for legal reasons, before accusing the victim of attempting to ride onto his gallops.
The 17-year-old allegedly responded “I’m just pushing it mate”.
Mr Tremain told the court the defendant then drove off after two of the youngsters, while the victim followed behind.
He said witnesses Adrienne Hopkins and Richard Skilbeck, who were out for a walk further down the track, saw Morrison overtake the third bike which they felt “was being chased by the Land Rover”.
Ms Hopkins described seeing Morrison perform a “hard swerve” which she took as a “deliberate attempt to stop the motorbike”, while Mr Skilbeck observed what looked like “an intentional and abrupt turn”.
The prosecutor continued: “The victim recounts the defendant having pulled over to one side, looking at him, before accelerating and swinging straight into him, causing him to go flying through the air, landing a few metres from the Land Rover.”
The victim was thrown from his bike and suffered a fracture to his right leg.
The walkers rang 999 and he was rushed to hospital where he underwent an operation to insert a metal rod into his shinbone, secured with screws near his ankle and knee.
Prosecutor Mr Tremain told the defendant: “I suggest you made a stupid decision to swerve to the right to stop him or scare him, and you realised at the moment you got out of your Land Rover what the consequences were.”
In a police interview, Morrison claimed the victim, who himself has two convictions for driving without insurance and without a licence, tried to overtake him as he steered right in order to make a sharp left turn at a junction on a narrow part of the track, causing the “accident”.
The 64-year-old told jurors he went up to the Ridgeway out of concern for horseriders and walkers, and because he believed the bikers would damage the gallops.
He added: “The way they went past our house and round a blind corner was extremely dangerous. As a result, I felt they could cause a serious incident with a horse. I have a duty of care to everybody using those gallops.”
Morrison admitted he spoke to the victim, before heading back in the direction he had come from.
He said he momentarily saw the boy appear in his rear-view mirror and then through his off-side window, before feeling the impact of him hitting the car.
Describing the moments before the smash, he said: “I saw the victim around ten metres behind me – bang in the middle of my mirror. He was in the prone position to go as fast as possible.
“He was leaning forwards with his head on the handlebars. He had to be travelling very fast because I saw him for a split second before he disappeared.
“I had already started manoeuvring, I was halfway across the track. I next saw him out of the driver side window about an arm’s length away.
“When I saw him there I didn’t know what to do. His front wheel had already caught my front wheel. There was an impact. It was confusing.”
The court heard how the defendant left the scene before the police or ambulance had arrived – but flagged officers down and told them he had been involved in a collision.
Morrison denied fleeing the accident, instead claiming he gave directions to emergency call handlers, performed a shock test on the victim, and acted as his “chief comforter”.
He told the jury: “In the moment, I was only concerned about looking after the boy. I didn’t think I had done anything wrong.
“My whole concern was to make sure he had proper and speedy medical attention…He was in immense pain.
“I have never heard anybody scream like that. It was very unpleasant for everyone and unnerving.”
Morrison denies causing serious injury by dangerous driving.
The trial continues.
