Motorcyclist fled scene 'for own safety' after hitting boy, court told

A motorcyclist who seriously injured a five-year-old boy says he felt "terrible" after the accident thinking he had "killed him" but left the scene over fear for his own safety, a court has heard.

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.

Longhurst's sister Cara Haran has admitted her role in the conspiracy and told police he hit Arlo.

Previously, at Mold Crown Court, prosecutor Ember Wong said Longhurst was "weaving" through traffic without a helmet, licence or working front brake before fleeing.

Arlo, who was unresponsive, was treated by bystanders and airlifted to Alder Hey Children's Hospital.

Wong described a flurry of calls between Longhurst and his family as his coat was allegedly burned and his bike hidden before Hunt and Haran drove him to York, where he later searched online for hit and run sentences and was arrested.

Longhurst told the court that shortly after the crash a group of four or five people gathered including two he knew.

On Monday, Longhurst said he had been wearing a balaclava which he took off immediately after the accident because he said he "didn't want to hide" his identity.

He said people were "very heated, shouting and swearing" at him.

His defence barrister Joseph Lees asked him why he had left the scene.

"I was scared… of the people around me," he said, adding they "were being aggressive".

After the crash the court heard Longhurst went to his mother's house which was two minutes away.

His sister Haran and his brother Dane Longhurst were there, but Longhurst said they were in the back garden so he did not speak to them.

Instead, Longhurst said he went to the bathroom and took off his torn bloodstained clothes.

The jury then heard how Longhurst called his mother, who was working on deliveries at a takeaway restaurant, but did not mention the accident, adding: "I was scared if she would judge me."

Asked when he had discovered his clothes had been burned, he said it was later when he had been arrested, and he did not know at the time who had done it nor had he asked anyone to do it.

Similarly, Longhurst told the court, he was "not sure" how his bike which he had pushed back to his mother's house ended up in an alleyway across the road.

He said he decided to go to York later that evening, driven by his sister's partner Shane Hunt, because it was where his grandmother and his girlfriend lived.

It was his intention, he said, to hand himself in to the police in Yorkshire.

Under cross examination by Wong, Longhurst denied fleeing because he thought he had killed the boy or to avoid arrest.

He claimed someone at the scene threatened to "kick his head in" if he did not leave, but Wong said none of the witnesses mentioned any threats and suggested he was making it up, which he rejected.

He also accepted it would have been natural to tell his mother about the crash during the phone call shortly afterwards, but repeated he did not mention it.

Later, while Longhurst accompanied her on food deliveries, he denied talking to her about the crash or telling her that he had been injured and was in pain.

Questioned about a series of calls between the four defendants, Longhurst denied they were "hatching a plan" to avoid the consequences of what had happened and insisted his sister Haran was lying about arrangements to get him out of Shotton.

The trial continues.