Lakenheath USAF servicewoman cleared over crash which killed biker Matthew Day in Norfolk

A US servicewoman has been cleared of causing the death of a motorcyclist by careless driving after she pulled out in front of him at an "accident blackspot" junction.

Airman first class Mikayla Hayes was found not guilty in less than two hours after a trial at Norwich Crown Court.

She had emerged from a side road across the path of Matthew Day when the crash happened on the A10 at Southery in west Norfolk on 26 August last year.

The 25-year-old had been turning right, towards her home in Downham Market as she travelled back from RAF Lakenheath in Suffolk where she worked.

She emerged from the B1160 Lynn Road across the path of 33-year-old Mr Day as he travelled south along the A10.

The father-of-one’s Yamaha motorbike struck her Honda Accord and he died of his injuries later that day.

Hayes had wept as she gave evidence, telling the court: “I still to this day have no idea why I didn’t see that motorcycle.”

Mr Day's mother Trudi Betson said the family respected the court's decision and thanked the police and Crown Prosecution Service for bringing the case to court.

She said: "Our lives were ripped apart on 26 August last year and will never be the same again. Our broken hearts will never be mended. 

"Matthew was a popular, fun loving, hard working young man with so much more to achieve in life. 

"Above all he was a devoted partner to Jenny and father to Chloe who was just a baby when Matthew died.

"Chloe is now 3 years old and is completely aware that her father is not here for her."

She added: "It is now our job to try to pull the pieces of our shattered lives together and work as hard as we can to make sure that Chloe has as normal a childhood and life as she can without her daddy by her side."

Christine Agnew KC said on Friday, during her defence closing speech: “Sometimes it’s just an accident and there’s no-one to blame.”

She told jurors that “this case is not just another US airman case” and she mentioned the case of Harry Dunn and Anne Sacoolas.

Motorcyclist Harry Dunn was 19 when a Volvo, driven on the wrong side of the road by US citizen Sacoolas, fatally smashed into him outside RAF Croughton in Northamptonshire in 2019.

Sacoolas was able to leave the UK after diplomatic immunity was asserted on her behalf.

Ms Agnew said there was “no suggestion” that Hayes had “tried to flee the country or escape justice”.

The barrister said that, unlike the case of Sacoolas, Hayes’s was not a case of a foreign national driving on the wrong side of the road.

“She is an extremely competent driver with plenty of driving experience both in the US and in this country,” Ms Agnew said.

Hayes, from Indiana, works as an aerospace ground equipment mechanic, working on equipment associated with jets such as generators, heaters and tow bars.

She said she got her full US driver’s licence aged 16 and after moving to the UK, passed a written test about the highway code.

She told jurors: “I believe I’m a very careful driver and I kept looking for traffic both ways, and I don’t know why I didn’t see him that day.”

Witness Graeme Pratt, a motorcyclist waiting at the junction behind Hayes, said he “could see the person in the driver’s seat looking both ways”.

Defence expert witness Robert Wagstaff, an independent forensic collision investigator, argued that Mr Day reacted more slowly to the car pulling out than would be expected, based on research times.

Mr Day was found to have a “low concentration of THC” in his system, indicating he had taken cannabis at some point before the collision.

Professor Alex Stedmon, an independent road safety consultant called as an expert witness by the defence, said the junction “appears to be a hotspot or a blackspot for accidents”.

Det Insp Dave McCormack, who led the investigation, said: “Nothing can compensate Matthew’s family for their loss. We presented the best case and respect the jury’s decision.”

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