Stourbridge driver faces 13 years over Spanish hit and run (From Stourbridge News)

Stourbridge driver faces 13 years over Spanish hit and run

12:13pm Tuesday 30th June 2009

• Print
• Email
• Share
• Comments(0)

A STOURBRIDGE driver is due to stand trial for manslaughter in Spain next week accused of running over a young moped rider and dragging him more than a mile under his car.

David Cook, aged 57, is facing 13 years in prison if found guilty of killing 17-year-old Jose Antonio Caro at Alfaz de Pi, near Benidorm, in April 2008.

Cook is accused of ploughing into the teenager moments after he was thrown from his bike having collided with another vehicle - and then driving 1.25 miles along the road with the teenager’s body still trapped beneath his car.

The trial is due to start at the Central Alicante Courts on Wednesday July 1 and the court will hear Cook finally freed the victim's body by driving backwards and forwards until it dropped clear.

And pathologists are due to give evidence that the moped rider received a serious head injury in the collision with the first car, but it would not have been fatal.

The court will hear the teenager died in hospital as a result of the injuries sustained by being dragged so far under Cook's Hyundai Matix.

The state prosecutor will demand a 13-year prison sentence for Cook for manslaughter and reckless driving.

He will also seek £102,000 compensation from the accused for the victim's family.

The trial is expected to last between two and three weeks.

A demand will also be made for a fine of more than £3,700 to be imposed on Cook's common-law wife - Angela Green, a passenger in the car, for failing to help the motorcyclist.

• Print
• Email
• Share
• Comments(0)