A TEENAGER was killed and another seriously injured when their quad bike was deliberately driven off the road during a ‘hot pursuit’ along Broadstone Way on Bradford’s Holme Wood Estate, a jury heard today.
Jordan Glover, 24, from the Thorpe Edge area of Bradford, pleads not guilty to murder; manslaughter as an alternative count; causing grievous bodily harm with intent; and criminal damage. He admits causing death by dangerous driving.
Prosecutor Jason Pitter QC told Bradford Crown Court that last summer tensions were running high in the Holme Wood area with criminality, and sometimes violence between rival groups.
On the afternoon of Thursday, June 3, the situation reached “a crescendo” when a quad bike was pursued by a Ford Focus along Broadstone Way.
The chase ended abruptly when the car struck the rear of the bike and it was allegedly driven off the road.
The quad bike’s passenger, Rahees Mahmood, 18, died from catastrophic and unsurvivable injuries, the court was told. The rider, Tommy-Lee Haigh, 19, was hospitalised with multiple fractures.
The court heard that neither was wearing a helmet or any protective clothing.
Mr Haigh had declined to take part in the trial process, the jury was told.
Mr Pitter said the Holme Wood area was beset by tensions at the time between the ‘top enders’ and the ‘bottom enders.’
Shortly before the collision, there was criminality when a Volkswagen Golf was damaged.
A Nissan Terrano was collected soon after 3.40pm and driven around Bradford by a man named Frankie Simpson. Ten minutes later, it went to Broadstone Way where the Golf was deliberately rammed causing extensive damage.
Simpson had pleaded guilty to criminal damage, the jury was told.
Mr Pitter said it was unclear why the Golf was rammed and the owners had no idea why it had happened. But it was deliberate because Simpson had admitted it.
The prosecution alleges that it was a joint enterprise supported and encouraged by Glover.
The Terrano was then set on fire, the jury heard.
Glover and others got into a Vauxhall Corsa and were driven to the Tong Street area where they collected the Ford Focus at 4pm, Mr Pitter said.
The quad bike rider and his passenger had a pitchfork and a machete with them, the jury heard.
The damage to the Golf had caused ‘rising tension.’
Mr Pitter said Glover went ‘in hot pursuit’ of the quad bike without any fear that those on board were armed.
His driving was allegedly ‘determined, dangerous and deliberate'.
“We say a proper conclusion is that he deliberately drove into that quad bike,” Mr Pitter said, throwing the rider and passenger off it.
Glover did not stop at the scene and was later arrested from his home address on June 7.
He made a prepared statement, saying he was not aware of any violence that day.
He was not a part of the tensions in the area but he had been threatened by men armed with machetes and had moved away.
Glover said he became aware of the quad bike and that the men on board were armed. He feared that he would be hurt or killed and he was also fearful for those in the street, including children.
He acted to drive the people on the quad bike away from the street and then panicked after making contact with the machine, he told the police.
Mr Pitter said even if those on the bike ‘were up to no good,’ Glover’s actions were unjustified.
“The prosecution say it was a deliberate act to drive them off the road,” he stated.
Mr Pitter said the jury must decide if Glover was simply innocently caught up in the tensions in the area. Was it mere co-incidence that the Golf was damaged minutes before the collision? Was it co-incidence that the quad bike drove to his location afterwards? Why did Glover then pursue it in the way described?
After the Crown had opened its case this morning, Judge Andrew Hatton adjourned the trial until 10.30am tomorrow when the first witnesses will be called.
He told the jurors the court will not sit over the four-day Easter break but the case will probably go into the week after next.
The trial continues.
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