Death by dangerous driving trial adjourned
The trial of a lorry driver and a London woman over the death of a mother in a fatal motorway crash was adjourned at the last minute.
Anthony Cheshire, 63 of Reynards Coppice, Sutton Hill, Telford, and Tammy Langton, 32, of Melthorpe Gardens, Blackheath, south east London, are both accused of causing the death of Laura Cooper, 35, from Leicester on March 29 last year on the M25 in Essex by driving dangerously.
Cheshire was driving a Scania R620 lorry and Langton was driving a Nissan Note in which Mrs Cooper was a rear seat passenger. The collision happened between junctions 26 and 27 at 1.55am.
Cheshire is further accused of two offences of causing serious injury by dangerous driving to Yasmin Fry, another passenger in the Nissan, and to his co-defendant Tammy Langton.
Langton is further accused of causing the death of Laura Cooper by careless driving when over the prescribed limit for cannabis in her blood, and for causing serious injury by dangerous driving to Yasmin Fry.
Both defendants plead not guilty to all charges.
A jury was sworn in yesterday afternoon and the case was due to be opened today at Chelmsford Crown Court. But after a lengthy delay the jury was discharged by Judge Jonathan Seely.
He told them that material had arisen late which needed to be investigated and the delay meant the case had to give up its current listing in the court schedule.
"This is a tragic case. The delay of this trial must be truly dreadful for the family of the deceased, who I understand are in court," said the judge.
He said the delay was not the fault of the defendants and was "of great inconvenience to put it mildly" as they had had it hanging over them for some time.
After the jurors had been discharged and left the court room, Judge Seely ordered the Crown Prosecution Service to explain what had happened.
He said: "There must be some kind of inquiry into why this state of affairs has come to pass. I direct the CPS within seven days, in writing, to provide an explanation to the court as to what has gone wrong. It seems to me the material should plainly have been served on the defence as well as the court."
The case will be mentioned on December 15 when it will be known whether the trial can be re-scheduled to be heard on January 8.
