Court hears how teenager died in Hampshire Ferrari crash

A court has heard how a 13 year old boy was killed when a high-performance Ferrari F50 crashed on a farm track in Hampshire.

Alexander Worth from Kings Worthy died when the vehicle in which he was a passenger hit a post and overturned at North Warnborough on 22nd August 2016.

Neither Alexander or the driver were wearing seat belts.

39 year old Matthew Cobden, from Surrey is on trial accused of causing death by careless driving, which he denies.

Thomas Wilkins, prosecuting, said that Cobden, who runs a storage business for classic cars, had been moving the £1.2 million Ferrari when he was approached by Justin Smith, the partner of Alexander's mother, Arabella Worth, who was delivering a battery.

He asked for a photograph of the teenager with the Ferrari and the defendant offered to give the youngster a ride in the car.

They then drove off without seatbelts along the quiet farm road with good weather conditions and visibility, Mr Wilkins said.

He continued: "Alexander died when the defendant's car drove off the right-hand side into a long fence post which launched the vehicle into the air, flipping it and turning it through 270 degrees.

"No other vehicle was involved and the prosecution say that the fatal incident was caused by a simple driver error - in other words, Mr Cobden's driving fell below that required of a careful and competent driver."

He added: "When asked afterwards how the incident happened, the defendant described that shortly before he had put his foot on the accelerator and the vehicle just took off uncontrollably.

"He doesn't say he experienced any difficulties with the car prior to that point and there is ample evidence the car was in good working order earlier that day."

Mr Wilkins said that one explanation for the accident was that the defendant did not realise that the left-hand drive car had "drifted" off the road.

"Another explanation is the defendant misjudged the formidable power of this iconic car, over-accelerated and lost control," he said.

He said the Ferrari F50 "was the nearest you can get to a Formula One car on a public road" and it was capable of 0-60 mph in under four seconds.

Mr Wilkins explained that the owner of the car had spent £50,000 servicing and refurbishing the vehicle with the intention of selling it.

He added that the car had earlier that day been taken for a photo shoot in Bruntingthorpe, Lincolnshire, ready for sale at auction.

He said journalist Richard Meaden drove it that morning and "he described the car as a fabulous example of the Ferrari F50".

Mr Wilkins added: "His defence is that nothing he did caused the crash, rather it was due to some latent defect with the vehicle which caused it, without warning, to roar off and he was unable to control it or stop it in time.

The trial continues.