Biker denies causing deaths in road game (From Stroud News and Journal)

Biker denies causing deaths in road game

THREE people died after a motorcylcist raced his friend down a busy A-road in "a course of madness", a jury heard on Monday.

Martin Gardner, 25, of Allen Drive, Stroud was playing "cat and mouse" with his friend Jonathan Smart on the A38 near Cambridge last year.

Gloucester Crown Court heard that during the four-mile chase on November 29 between Gardner's high performance Suzuki motorbike and Smart's Vauxhall Cavalier, Smart crashed into a Rover 214.

The occupants of the Rover, Bristol couple Alfred Parker and wife Joyce, both in their 70s, and Smart from Cam died of "catastrophic injuries". Gardner, denies three counts of causing death by dangerous driving.

Opening the case for the prosecution Ian Fenny told the court that Gardner and Smart had spent the day together and had both had a pint of lager at the Yew Tree pub in Stinchcombe.

The two had raced for four miles up the A38 between Dursley and Cambridge. He said: "For four miles they were involved in a dangerous game with disastrous consequences.

"These two men embarked on a game of cat and mouse. "They were engaged in what they thought was a game of dare - who could take the biggest risk.

He told the court that both vehicles overtook each other several times causing other vehicles to take evasive action.

He said at one point on the A4135 a woman driving with her son and husband had to execute an emergency stop as Gardner's motorcylce came towards her on the wrong side of the road.

A witness remembered the noise of a "screaming motorcylce engine" coming from behind before Gardner's machine overtook him at high speed and narrowly missed an oncoming car.

"They had no regard for the safety of other road users. This was such an appalling course of conduct that every single one of you (the jury) will conclude that this was dangerous driving - a course of madness.

"The defendant has made no recognintion at all at any stage of his responsibility for what happened.

He says to the Crown: 'You must prove that I was riding that motorcylce dangerously.' "This was a dreadful waste of life and was completely unnecessary.

"I have avoided using the word accident because this was no accident in the true sense of the word."

Mr Fenny said that moments after the collision Gardner returned to the crash but panicked when he realised how serious it was and sped off.

He also told the court that Gardner had admitted playing cat and mouse with Smart during police interview.

He said Gardner told the police that Smart had been travelling at speeds of up to 85mph. The trial is expected to last for a week and the case was adjourned until tomorrow.