Motorcyclist hit five-year-old boy and fled, court told

A five-year-old boy was left critically injured after he was hit and dragged along the road by a motorbike whose rider then fled the scene, a court has heard.

Kaylem Longhurst, 18, from Nantwich, has already pleaded guilty to dangerous driving in relation to the crash in Shotton, Flintshire, at about 17:30 on 11 September 2024.

Longhurst is on trial at Mold Crown Court with three other people, including his mother and brother, who the prosecution said "set a plan in motion to cover up his involvement" and help him "evade and thwart justice".

Arlo Buckley had been with his siblings on Central Drive and was hit by the off-road bike when he crossed the road, prosecutor Ember Wong said.

Longhurst, from Nantwich, Cheshire, his mother Terry Follows, 42, Shane Hunt, 39, and 19-year-old Dane Longhurst, all from Clwyd Street in Shotton, deny the charge of conspiracy to pervert the course of public justice.

Opening the case, Wong said witnesses saw Kaylem Longhurst "weaving in and out of cars" with no helmet and, it later emerged, no licence and no working front brake.

The prosecutor said as the "unresponsive" child was being attended to by members of the public, witnesses said they saw the rider collecting his bike and "little by little, when he thought he was not being watched", beginning to wheel it away.

After being challenged by one of the bystanders, he began running with the bike, she added.

Wong told the jury what followed was a "flurry" of calls between Longhurst and family members.

The first call he made was to his mother who was working on deliveries at a pizza takeaway restaurant.

She said he then went to her home on Clwyd Street and saw his brother Dane Longhurst and his sister Cara Haran, who contacted her then partner Shane Hunt, and brought him in to help.

The prosecution said the siblings then tried to burn Longhurt's coat and hide his bike.

Later, they and Terry Follows all denied having seen or heard from Longhurst when questioned by police, Wong added.

But phone calls between them all continued and it was arranged for Hunt and Haran to take Longhurst to York.

While this was taking place, the air ambulance arrived at 18:04 to take Arlo to Alder Hey Children's Hospital in Liverpool, she said.

On the journey to York, Wong said Longhurst made two searches online, looking to find out how long the prison sentence would be for a hit and run.

He was later arrested in York.

The next day Haran, who has already pleaded guilty to her involvement, told the police her brother had hit the little boy and that she and her brother had tried to burn his coat before taking him to York with her partner Hunt.

Wong told the jury Longhurst denies perverting the course of justice and said he had intended to call the police but had fled due to "fear of retribution".

Follows said her daughter, Haran, was lying about what happened and said she would have had "no qualms" about reporting any of her children to the police if they did something wrong, the prosecution added.

Hunt accepted he took Longhurst to York, but said he did not know about a hit and run.

Dane Longhurst said he had not seen Kaylem Longhurst that evening as he had been out walking his dog.

He said Haran told him what had happened, but he denied being involved in burning the coat or hiding the bike, which was later found in an alleyway opposite his mother's house.

The trial continues.