A Spalding taxi driver told a jury he had to brake suddenly after seeing a Ford Focus overtake a Volkswagen Touran and then seeing a Vauxhall Insignia collide with the Touran shortly before a fatal crash at Tongue End.
Nadeem Mahmood was carrying three primary-school children home from school when he became aware of three vehicles travelling along The Delph towards Counter Drain Drove. His evidence was heard at Lincoln Crown Court during the continuing trial arising from the death of Sean Burlton.
Mr Burlton, 28, was a passenger in a Ford Focus that left the road and entered a water-filled ditch on Counter Drain Drove, in Tongue End, on November 24, 2023. Emergency services attended, and firefighters freed him from the vehicle. The court heard that he had stopped breathing and that a post-mortem examination confirmed he had drowned.
What the taxi driver saw
Mr Mahmood said the Ford Focus overtook the Volkswagen Touran, which was being driven by Richard McMullon, before braking heavily in front of him. The taxi driver said the manoeuvre forced him to brake as he was travelling behind the vehicles with the children in his taxi.
“It (Ford Focus) emergency braked, it slammed on the brakes when it got infront,”
Mr Mahmood also told the jury: “I had to emergency brake myself.” He said he reduced his speed to 30mph because he had been forced to make emergency braking manoeuvres a couple of times.
He then saw a Vauxhall Insignia driving side by side with the Touran. The two vehicles were involved in what the taxi driver described as a small collision.
When prosecution barrister Gordon Aspden KC asked what opinion he had formed about the driving, Mr Mahmood said he initially thought the people in the vehicles were friends racing each other. After seeing the collision, he said he believed it was something else and that the occupants might not have been friends.
Prosecution case
Prosecutors allege that Mr Burlton was in the Ford Focus as it attempted to ram the Volkswagen Touran. The Touran was being driven by Mr McMullon, who was described in court as the former partner of Mr Burlton’s girlfriend.
The prosecution alleges that the Focus later attempted to cut up Mr McMullon’s vehicle on a left-hand bend further along Counter Drain Drove before entering the water-filled drain.
CCTV footage shown as part of the evidence is said to have shown Mr McMullon leaving a contact visit in Spalding while being followed by the Ford Focus and the Vauxhall Insignia. Mr McMullon told police that the only person who knew the time of the contact visit was Vanessa Gratton.
The court heard there was an ongoing dispute between Mr McMullon and Ms Gratton concerning custody visits.
People named in the case
The jury heard that Bailey Fitzgerald, 29, of Brownlow Crescent, Pinchbeck, was driving the Ford Focus. Max Prior, 21, of London Road, Spalding, and Mr Burlton were passengers in that vehicle.
Sam Johnson, 26, of Johnson Avenue, Spalding, was driving the Vauxhall Insignia. The passengers in that car were said to include Sam Clift, 35, of Brownlow Crescent, Pinchbeck; Josh Copnell, 22, of Rose Lane, Pinchbeck; and Scott Biggs, 33, of Spalding Common, Spalding.
Mr Burlton’s partner, Vanessa Gratton, 31, of West Parade, Spalding, and Mr Biggs deny conspiring with Mr Burlton to cause actual bodily harm to Mr McMullon between November 22 and November 25, 2023.
The allegations have not been proved. The supplied report does not state the outcome of the case, and the trial continues.
