A burglary victim who reacted like any ‘reasonable right-minded’ homeowner has been cleared of causing the death of a teenager who was fleeing on his stolen motorbike.
Callum Duncan, 28, was woken around 6.30am on January 24 last year by the noise of a gang of burglars breaking into the shed at his home in Stockport, Greater Manchester.
They had known bikes were stored in the shed after seeing one for sale on Facebook.
The burglars, Dean Barnes, 16, Alexander Riley, 21, and Adam Norman, 36, fled on Duncan’s three off-road bikes and he immediately gave chase – reaching speeds of 36mph in a 20mph zone in his Golf GTi.
Barnes was forced to abandon the Yamaha PW50 – commonly known as a ‘Pee Wee’ – he was riding.
He then got on the back of Norman’s stolen bike, a black and white Husqvarna, which hit another car, causing the pair to be thrown off.
Although Norman suffered extensive injuries he left the scene, while Barnes was killed ‘instantly’ after also hitting a parked car.
Duncan and Norman had faced trial after they were accused of causing death by dangerous driving.
Callum Duncan is pictured outside Manchester’s Minshull Street Crown Court on July 4. He has been found not guilty of dangerous driving
A jury at Manchester’s Minshull Street Crown Court took less than four-and-a-half hours to find Norman guilty, but found father-of-two Duncan not guilty as his family watched on from the public gallery.
The jury heard how Barnes died after Norman sped across a junction at a speed of between 50 to 60mph, according to the female driver of the car he hit.
Neither had been wearing helmets.
Meanwhile, Duncan had only chased the bikes for around 250m (800ft) before coming to a stop at the junction.
But the prosecution claimed both men had caused the fatal crash.
Opening the case, Phil Barnes, prosecuting, told the jury that it was ‘no defence’ for Duncan to plead that he was entitled to drive ‘however he liked in an effort to recover his stolen property.’
‘He still owed a duty to all the other road users around him, including those men on his bike,’ he said.
‘The standard of driving to which he must be held to account does not change because of the circumstances he was in.’
Mr Barnes told the jury that while he recognised they would have a ‘degree of sympathy’ for Duncan he’d known there was a ‘risk’ by pursuing the gang in his car.
The chaotic chase ended in a collision which killed 16-year-old Dean Barnes (pictured)
The jury heard that a ‘furious’ Duncan had accelerated and got within one second of Norman and his Golf was seen to ‘bounce’ across speed bumps in video footage played in court
Mr Barnes accused Duncan of exacting ‘retribution’ and pursuing a ‘personal vendetta’, saying his actions had made a collision ‘more likely’.
If Norman was the ‘main cause’ of the crash, he added, that did not mean Duncan wasn’t ‘a cause’.
When giving evidence, Duncan said he had only been ‘curious’ to see where the bikes were going and he denied the suggestion he would have ‘rammed’ them off the road.
He claimed he’d only had ‘ten seconds’ to react during the incident and to have gone through all of the scenarios in his head would have been ‘impossible’
Duncan, who only admitted his involvement in the crash to police around four hours later, said he hadn’t seen the collision, adding: ‘I just heard a bang. I can’t really explain how I felt, I’ve never felt that way since.’
And he told he jury how he’d received ‘threats’ in the aftermath.
His barrister Daniel Harman had argued that he’d only done ‘what any reasonable right-minded homeowner does in the circumstances’ which was to ‘investigate’ what was happening to his bikes.
Mr Harman added that it was Norman’s ‘stupidity and dangerous and reckless actions’ that caused the collision and Barnes’ death – and Duncan was not to blame.
Floral and balloon tributes at the scene of the crash in Stockport where Dean Barnes was killed
The jury heard that Norman, who was also found guilty of charges of causing death by driving while uninsured and causing death by driving while disqualified, felt he had ‘no choice’ but to cross the junction because he was worried Duncan was ‘getting too close’ to him and he was ‘panicking’.
‘I was in fear for my life,’ he said. ‘I would have been rammed.’
The jury were told that Norman and Riley, both of Brinnington, Stockport, had previously admitted their role in the burglary.
Both will be sentenced on September 9.
Barnes was previously convicted for his part in a plot to steal a car belonging to a business owner who was run over and killed.
‘Respected’ father-of-three Mohammed Islam, 53, who owned the Marple Spice restaurant in Marple, Stockport, died as he tried to stop a gang stealing his silver Mercedes, a 25th wedding anniversary gift from his children.
Manchester Crown Court heard how Mr Islam – also known as Nowab Miah – was delivering a takeaway in nearby Romiley in January 2021 when the gang struck.
He had tried to cling on to the car before he was sent ‘flying’ to the ground, with the car then running over his head.
The boy behind the wheel, aged 14 at the time, who’d ‘floored’ the vehicle in a manner akin to Top Gear, was convicted of manslaughter and conspiracy to steal and jailed for four years and nine months.
Three other teens were sentenced for their roles in the carjacking while Barnes was handed a 12-month detention and training order.
