Motorist who hit 12-year-old Callum Rycroft on M62 cleared of dangerous driving

A motorist who hit a 12-year-old boy as he ran across a motorway has been cleared of dangerous driving after telling a court he was a "broken man".

Callum Rycroft died from his injuries after being hit by a car driven by Shahid Ilyas, 48, as he crossed the M62 in West Yorkshire on 5 August.

Prosecutors told Bradford Crown Court Shahid Ilyas, 48, was not responsible for Callum's death.

But they claimed he had driven dangerously after the incident because he allegedly failed to stop as soon as he safely could, despite “massive damage” to his windscreen.

However, a jury took around two hours to clear Mr Ilyas of dangerous driving.

Earlier Mr Ilyas had told the jury: “I was driving along at a normal speed, minding my own business and suddenly there was a loud bang and the windscreen bowed in.”

He said: “I was in shock and I was traumatised. I didn’t know if I was dead or alive.”

Mr Ilyas told the court how he squeezed his leg to see if he could feel anything, because he did not know if what was happening to him was real or a nightmare.

He told the jury: “I know I look normal on the outside but inside I’m a broken man.

He said: “My life has been turned upside down because of this accident and it was not my fault.

“I did not create this accident. I did not commit a crime and I’ve been treated like a criminal.”

Mr Ilyas described how, immediately after the collision, he put on his hazard lights and pulled the Toyota to the left hand side of the motorway and got out of the vehicle.

But he said he realised there was no hard shoulder and he was in a live lane with traffic “flying past”.

The defendant said: “I was thinking to go to a service station and that’s what I did, and that’s what it says in the Highway Code.”

Prosecutors have told the jury the case against Ilyas is that he drove on after the collision for about two-a-half miles, ignoring at least two clear places to stop, before pulling into an Esso service station on Whitehall Lane, in Bradford.

Mr Ilyas told the jury: "In a state of shock and a state of trauma I went to go to a service station.

“I do not remember looking for a layby, or bus stop or people’s driveway to stop.”

Asked about the state of his shattered windscreen, Ilyas said: “I had enough view to see where I was going.”

When he reached a garage and admitted he told workers he had hit an animal.

He said he only realised what had actually happened the next day when stories about Callum’s death appeared in the news.

The court has heard how Ilyas then contacted a solicitor for advice, who rang the police on his behalf.

The defendant said he has not been able to drive since the incident due to the trauma.

The jury of six men and six women was shown footage of the fatal collision on the motorway and some of the build-up to the incident.

Michael Smith, prosecuting, told the court that the incident happened after Callum’s father, Matthew Rycroft, was driving drunk on the motorway and overturned his Audi Q5 on the slip road to Hartshead Moor services, near Huddersfield.

Rycroft and Callum left the vehicle and were seen on CCTV, shown to the court on Friday, walking along the busy M62 in the dark before crossing into the central reservation.

At one point, Rycroft was seen falling over and being helped up by Callum, the court heard.

Rycroft then crossed back over to the hard shoulder and was followed by Callum, who ran directly into the path of Ilyas’s Toyota.

Rycroft made it to the other side and carried on without looking back for his son, the court heard.

The jury was told that Rycroft admitted his son’s manslaughter in a separate prosecution and has been dealt with by the courts.

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