Cowboy roofer chased by police stepped over woman’s body after hitting her on Staffordshire golf course, court hears
A cowboy roofer who took police on a 70mph chase through the streets of Birmingham before ploughing into a mother of three as she played golf in Staffordshire stepped over her body as he fled the scene, a court has heard.
Van driver John McDonald, 52, damaged vehicles, drove on the wrong side of the road, mounted pavements and rammed a police car following him at least eight times during a 12-minute pursuit before he entered Aston Wood Golf Club in Shenstone, Staffordshire, where Suzanne Cherry was playing golf with her husband on April 11 last year.
Worcester Crown Court heard 62-year-old Ms Cherry had been looking for her ball near a stream when McDonald hit her, causing her multiple catastrophic injuries that she died from in hospital on April 15, the day before her 63rd birthday.
Ms Cherry’s husband Clint Harrison shouted her name to warn her the van was approaching as it careered over an embankment but she “could not possibly have got out the way”, the court was told.
Prosecution counsel Michael Burrows KC said Mr Harrison shouted “You bastards, you’ve killed my wife” as McDonald, his son Johnny McDonald, 23 and fellow passenger Brett Delaney, 35, fled following the collision.
Ms Cherry’s loved ones sobbed in the public gallery as the list of injuries she had sustained were read out, including multiple rib fractures, torn carotid arteries and lacerations to her liver and spleen.
After suffering multiple strokes, Ms Cherry would have been severely disabled if she had survived her injuries, and the decision was made to withdraw treatment.
John McDonald, who looked at the floor in the dock throughout the hearing and held a tissue in his hand, admitted causing death by dangerous driving on the day his trial was due to start on Monday, after previously denying manslaughter.
The court heard that, on the morning of the fatal collision, the defendants, who all admitted conspiracy to commit fraud between February 17 and April 12 last year by making false representations that roofing work was needed when it was not, had been following an elderly customer to a cash machine for payment after carrying out work on her home when they were spotted by police.
The officer said her attention was drawn to the van, a grey Nissan NV300, on Greenholm Road in Birmingham at around 10am when the middle seat passenger, Delaney, appeared to “quickly turn his head to the side to avoid looking at her”.
After noticing the van’s number plate was not straight, she turned her marked police car around with the intention of speaking to the driver, but the vehicle made off.
Reaching speeds of up to 70mph, the chase through the streets of Birmingham saw multiple vehicles damaged by McDonald’s van as he weaved in and out of traffic, drove through red lights and over pavements and tried to ram the police car following him at least eight times.
After the collision with Ms Cherry, all defendants fled the scene and when John and Johnny McDonald were arrested on suspicion of manslaughter on April 16, the elder McDonald said: “Someone died?”
Delaney, who was arrested on April 18, said in police interview both he and Johnny McDonald had tried to tell John McDonald to stop during the pursuit.
The court was told all three defendants, who worked under the guise of a company called Approved Roofs Ltd, had conned elderly women out of thousands of pounds by carrying out unnecessary and shoddy roof repairs to their homes.
Mr Burrows said they had charged “exorbitant amounts for bad work”, with their elderly victims left feeling pressured to “go along with it”.
Four separate victims – aged 61, 79, 83 and 88 – had been deceived into paying for unnecessary roof works, with one forking out nearly £10,000, with an extra £7,000 needed to repair the damage the defendants had done to her roof.
Mr Burrows said the fraud was “sophisticated and required significant planning”, adding: “The offence was sustained over the course of two months.
“There were four victims and they were targeted on the basis of vulnerability – their age.”
Of the police pursuit and collision, he said: “The victim was a pedestrian, there were injuries to other victims and damage to other vehicles.
“There were other driving offences committed at the same time – these are all factors that increase the seriousness of the offence.”
'Suzanne's life was violently and senselessly ended'
Reading his victim impact statement while looking directly at John McDonald in the dock, Mr Harrison said his wife’s life was “violently and senselessly ended”.
He said: “I stand before you today not as a man seeking vengeance, but as a man who had the very foundation of his life destroyed.
“Suzanne’s life was violently and senselessly ended by the actions of this defendant.
“This life was not abstract, it was the life of the brightest and most beautiful soul I ever met.”
He added: “They valued their temporary freedom more than her right to live. The damage is irreversible.
“We are condemned to a lifetime of grief. They must be held fully accountable for dismantling our family.”
Ms Cherry’s brother Adrian Cherry described her as “tough and resilient”.
He said: “Sue was the victim of such cruel events. One minute enjoying a game of golf, the next ploughed down by a reckless act. My life will never be the same.
“I remember her zest for life and adventure. She lost her life in what should have been a safe place. To this day, I have no answers.”
The sentencing hearing is expected to continue on Tuesday.
