Police warning after road death guilty verdict
PC Paul Bosley, from West Mercia Police’s Force Operations Support Team (FOST), has issued a warning to motorists after seeing 47-year-old Stuart Alan Cook found guilty of causing death by dangerous driving at Shrewsbury Crown Court on Friday.
The guilty verdict related to the death of 37-year-old cyclist Arthur Platt from Hampshire, who was killed on Tuesday 6 July last year when he was knocked off his bicycle on the A442 Queensway in Telford between the Trench Lock and Telford town centre junctions.
Mr Platt – who was completing a charity bike ride from John O’Groats to Lands End in aid of Help for Heroes when the accident occurred – was airlifted to hospital following the collision but unfortunately paramedics were unable to save him.
Speaking outside Shrewsbury Crown Court on Friday, PC Bosley said:
“This was a particularly tragic collision to deal with, which resulted in a very complex and intensive investigation that took several months to complete. I would like to thank all the witnesses that came forward to assist us with our enquiries – the information they provided was crucial to the investigation.
“I would also like to thank the Crown Prosecution Service and all the people that worked on the investigation for their hard work. This hard work helped achieve the right result at court and justice for the family of Arthur Platt. The thoughts of everyone involved with this investigation remain with his family and I hope the verdict offers them some small consolation as they move forward with their lives.
“I also hope that this verdict sends out a strong reminder that technical equipment such as mobile phones and satellite navigation systems should not be operated by drivers whilst in control of their vehicle.
“Allowing yourself to become distracted whilst driving is bad enough, but, as was shown in this case, completely taking your eyes off the road to deal with a distraction – such as your satellite navigation system falling off the windscreen – can have fatal consequences. It only takes a few seconds to lose concentration but by then it’s too late.
“Being the driver of a motor vehicle requires full concentration at all times and I cannot stress the importance of finding a safe place to pull over and stop should you need to make a call or deal with an issue in your vehicle.
“This collision – and the death of Mr Platt - could so easily have been avoided had Mr Cook left his sat nav alone, continued to the next junction and then sorted the problem out afterwards.”
Speaking after the verdict, Mr Platt’s wife Madeleine paid tribute to her Wirral born husband, describing him as a “special man” who had raised more than £10,000 for Help for Heroes.
She said: “Arthur was a very special man. Help for Heroes was a charity close to his heart and he raised more than £10,000 for them overall.
“We are not vindictive people, but if one positive can come of this it is that people will read what happened and make sure it never happens to anyone else. Arthur would definitely want to prevent something like this happening again.”
Mr Platt’s sisters Marie Molloy and Kim McKye added:
“We respect the jury’s verdict and we are grateful for justice. However, whatever the outcome there can be no winners today because, as much as we wish with all our hearts to wind back time and bring Arthur back, that simply cannot be done.
“We also realise that this has been a difficult time for the family of Mr Cook and we wish to extend our sympathy to them too.”
