A YOUNG driver accused of causing death by careless driving after a crash which killed a dad later ‘lied’ to police, a court heard.

Daniel Freeman Hollins denies causing death by careless driving and while uninsured and unlicensed as his trial continues at Worcester Crown Court. The 20-year-old of Swinyard Road, Malvern crashed at the Robin Hood pub, Gloucester Road, Castlemorton at 7.30pm on Friday, May 24 last year. After veering off the road, his car struck two parked cars, including that of 72-year-old Raymond Johnstone before Mr Johnstone and his vehicle were dragged into a timber and brick building which collapsed on top of him. Harpreet Sandhu, prosecuting, said the defendant had bought the car a week before the crash on May 17 from Moat Way, Malvern for £200 and without an MOT certificate. In interview the defendant told officers it had been the first time he had driven the Suzuki Liana which was untrue. “He accepts now, in the course of that interview, he told a lie” said Mr Sandhu.

Mr Sandhu also said that the defendant had said Ruth Johnstone, the daughter-in-law of the victim, had stopped her Passat in the middle of the road as she pulled out of the pub car park, turning right towards Welland.

In interview Freeman Hollins said ‘that caused him to take action’ and ‘it was because of that he veered off to his left and into the car park of the Robin Hood’. The prosecution case is that she did not stop and completed the turn in a single manoeuvre and that Freeman Hollins ‘reacted in a way that was far too late’. “The defendant denied he drove carelessly and appears to blame Ruth Johnstone for setting in train the events which led to Raymond Johnstone’s death.”

The defendant said he applied his brakes but the prosecutor told the jury there was no evidence of skid marks on the road. He also said that Freeman Hollins ‘maintained the lie’ that he had never driven the car before in a his second interview on August 27 last year.

The trial continues.