Mile-long trail of blood led to dying headteacher, murder trial hears

A trail of blood more than a mile in length led to a dying headmaster who was mowed down and dragged underneath a car, a murder trial jury heard.

Michael Mullins, 56, was struck by a black Volvo XC90 as he cycled home from Stretford Grammar School in Manchester during the early evening of April 20.

Simon Richardson, 35, is said to have driven at speed through give way markers at a junction in Warburton, Altrincham, and into the path of Mr Mullins.

Prosecutors accuse Richardson of murder because they say he knew Mr Mullins was beneath the wheels of his vehicle but drove on anyway.

On Wednesday, jurors heard from a motorcyclist who discovered Mr Mullins lying on a grass verge in Lymm, Cheshire – 2.2 kilometres from the collision in Paddock Lane.

Andrew Besant-Roberts arrived at the collision scene at the junction with Dunham Road and was told a cyclist may have been trapped under the car.

In a statement read to the court, he said: “I very quickly noticed a strange trail on the road.

“I didn’t know what it was initially, but I thought it was suspicious.

“As I followed the trail, it suddenly occurred to me that it was blood.

“As it went over a white line I could see it was red.”

The trail led to Mill Lane, a single carriageway in Lymm, and then on to Wet Gate Lane, a quiet country lane, the court heard.

Mr Besant-Roberts added: “I noticed the trail started to weave from left to right.

This continued for a couple of hundred yards.

“Then I saw a cyclist on a grass verge who appeared to be in a position similar to the recovery position.

“He was laid on his side unconscious but I could see he was still breathing.”

He dialled 999 but said the cyclist “began to deteriorate”.

He said: “His breathing became worse and worse. It was irregular with long pauses and then it just stopped.”

Mr Besant-Roberts was instructed by a call handler to give chest compressions before a paramedic arrived shortly after.

Mr Mullins, from Northwich, Cheshire, was pronounced dead at the scene at 6.50pm – about 40 minutes after the collision.

Earlier, a motorist parked at the Green Dragon pub in Mill Lane said she noticed something underneath a vehicle travelling at speed.

In a witness statement, Katie Woodward said: “My first thought was that it was a body but I thought this was ridiculous and surely a body can’t be under the car.

“I convinced myself it must have been an animal.

“As the vehicle drove along the road I saw it was leaving a trail coming from the passenger side.”

She too decided to follow the “thick, dark trail”, the court was told, which stopped where Mr Mullins laid as he was being tended to by Mr Besant-Roberts.

Dog walker Peter Connell was on Mill Lane when he said he heard a “loud, dragging sound” coming from a passing black car.

He said: “It was an unusual sound.

“Something flapping round like cardboard or a plastic sheet.

“I looked under the car and I saw something big and flapping round the front passenger wheel.

“I thought it was bizarre that the driver had not realised they had something under the car and didn’t stop.”

The Crown say Richardson “veered sharply and deliberately from side to side” in Wet Gate Lane before his car mounted the verge, and that he then drove over his victim at least once before he was finally dislodged.

The defendant denies murder and an alternative count of manslaughter.

He has also pleaded not guilty to an allegation of dangerous driving on April 21 in a police pursuit before he was arrested.