A Manchester jury heard on Monday, 13 October 2026, that a headteacher was struck by a car while cycling home and dragged for more than a mile beneath the vehicle before dying at the roadside.
Michael Mullins, 56, the headteacher of Stretford Grammar School, was hit by a Volvo XC90 driven by Simon Richardson, 35, as he cycled home on 20 April through Altrincham, Greater Manchester. Richardson denies murder, manslaughter and dangerous driving, according to reporting by ITV Hub.
What the court heard about the collision
Opening the prosecution case at Manchester Minshull Street Crown Court, Phil Barnes KC told jurors that Richardson drove straight through give way markings at a junction and collided with Mr Mullins. Several eyewitnesses stopped, left their cars and called the emergency services, the court was told.
But Richardson, according to the prosecution, did not stop. Barnes said the defendant turned his head, accelerated, and at times travelled at double the speed limit as he fled the scene. The bicycle was found lying in the road; the cyclist was not. Witnesses searched the hedgerows and nearby fields without success, because, the prosecution alleges, Mr Mullins was trapped beneath the Volvo.
This was murder, Barnes told the jury, because the evidence will show that for a significant proportion of that journey Richardson knew his victim was trapped and injured but alive beneath the wheels.
He knew that what he was doing would kill Michael Mullins or at the very least cause him serious injury and yet he drove on anyway.
Barnes KC, prosecuting, told the court that visible damage to the bonnet and windscreen of Richardson's Volvo, captured on an ANPR camera as he drove away, was caused by Mr Mullins being thrown onto the car. There is no way on earth, Barnes argued, that Richardson could not have known he had hit the cyclist.
A death on a quiet country lane
The court heard that Richardson later stopped in a quiet country lane and attempted in vain to pull Mr Mullins from under the car. He then drove on, and was seen veering sharply and deliberately from side to side before the car mounted a grass verge. It is the Crown's case that Richardson drove over his victim at least once before Mr Mullins was dislodged and the defendant made off.
Mr Mullins was crushed to death beneath the wheels of the car, Barnes said, and his death was made quicker by the fact that he had been dragged against the road surface for more than 2km. The first passer-by to reach him found him still breathing and barely alive; his breath gave out moments later. Medics attended, and Mr Mullins was pronounced dead at the roadside 40 minutes after the collision. Richardson was arrested the following day, the court heard, after allegedly driving dangerously at speed through residential streets in Failsworth, Oldham, while pursued by police in a van.
The BBC, which also reported Monday's opening of the trial, noted that the prosecution contends the driver knew the victim was trapped under the car for the duration of that journey. The