Biker fled less than a minute after hitting child, court told

A witness has told a court how she saw a motorcyclist grab his bike and run off less than a minute after hitting a five-year-old boy crossing the road.

Arlo Buckley was seriously injured in the accident which took place on Central Drive in Shotton, Flintshire, on 11 September 2024.

Kaylem Longhurst, 18, from Nantwich in Cheshire, has already pleaded guilty to dangerous driving in relation to the crash.

However, he is on trial at Mold Crown Court with three other people who the prosecution said helped him attempt to "evade and thwart justice".

They include his mother Terry Follows, 42, his brother Dane Longhurst, 19, and Shane Hunt, 39, all from Clwyd Street in Shotton.

All the defendants deny the charge of conspiracy to pervert the course of public justice.

Leah Walsh described how she had been walking on Central Drive with her boyfriend when they saw a young child waiting to cross the street.

She told the jury he was "quite hesitant" before attempting to run across to two children on the other side.

She saw Longhurst, who she had seen a short time earlier, riding the bike with no helmet.

Walsh said he was travelling "quite fast" as he hit the child, which caused him to be "dragged with the bike".

"He got stuck between the wheel and the plastic bit that goes over it," she told the court.

Walsh described how she then ran over to the young boy to check if he was breathing.

She said he had a bulge on his head and was bleeding from his nose and ears.

Walsh told the jury that Longhurst then took off his balaclava and seemed to be panicked, asking if the five-year-old was OK.

She said Longhurst had remained at the scene for "no more than minute" before grabbing his bike and running down the street, without checking on the child or calling emergency services.

Walsh said when Buckley's mother arrived, they both went to Clwyd Street, where the Longhursts live, and saw Dane Longhorn, who said his brother had "been picked up".

Under cross examination, defence barrister Joseph Lees suggested there had been a "hostile atmosphere" towards Longhurst from the people who had gathered at the scene.

Walsh said she was "angry" but she and her boyfriend were more concerned about the child.

She said it was correct she had sworn at Longhurst but she had not wanted him to leave the scene.

Walsh disagreed she had made the situation worse by taking the child's mother to Longhurst's house.

The court also heard a statement from Emma Louise Davison, a neighbour of Longhurst's mother.

She said she had spoken to him on a number of occasions about the manner of his riding, warning him "something bad" would happen.

Davison said he "doesn't listen" and Follows had "no influence on his behaviour".

She described another occasion when she had almost hit Longhurst with her car because he was on the wrong side of the road.

Davison told jurors she had also complained to Follows on the day of the accident, after people saw him driving dangerously in Garden City.

The court also heard from Alison Edwards, intelligence analyst for North Wales Police, who had put together some of the evidence in the case.

The jury was taken through a timeline of a series of calls between the defendants, and shown CCTV footage of Longhurst getting into Hunt's van later in the afternoon of the accident.

They also heard a conversation recorded on a police bodycam on the evening of 11 September, where Follows told a police officer she hadn't seen her son or spoken to him since the previous day.

The trial continues.