The Darlington and Stockton Times | News, Sport, Business, North Yorkshire, County Durham

Teenager left in coma has court case thrown out

From the archive, first published Friday 19th Jan 2007.

THE case against a teenager left in a coma for six weeks after a car crash was yesterday thrown out by magistrates - citing major failings by the prosecution.Nineteen-year-old Aidan Mucklin was cleared of charges of drink-driving and driving without due care and attention which were brought following a single vehicle accident between Croft-on-Tees and Middleton Tyas, near Darlington, in December 2005.Mr Mucklin - who denied the charges and said he was not behind the wheel - spent six weeks in intensive care, 124 days in a high-dependency unit and was twice resuscitated.He suffered a broken neck, spinal injuries, a fractured skull, blood on the brain, broke his left cheek and right leg and lost the use of his left hand.The student, from Brownlee, North Cowton, near Darlington, still suffers from his injuries and is registered disabled.Lee Goodchild, defending, told Northallerton magistrates that Mr Mucklin's injuries were consistent with being a passenger in the Rover 25 - which had contained five people.He said police arrived to find him hanging out of the passenger side of the car.Yesterday, his case - appearing before the court for the eighth time - was thrown out.Mr Goodchild said the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) had been to court five times without the necessary files and had failed to respond to defence requests for disclosure.He said that it was not mentioned until yesterday that the car -crucial evidence in the case - was available for examination by the defence.Speaking afterwards, Mr Mucklin, a student at Queen Elizabeth Sixth Form College, Darlington, said: "It's a big relief. It's been like a grey cloud hanging over my head for the past 13 months. "I can get on with my life, get to college and hopefully go to university." His mother, Nicola Mucklin, said: "It has been a horrendous experience for us. He has still got his injuries and he still has to go to the hospital for the rest of his life."The chairman of the bench, Colin Brown, said that the CPS had offered no explanation for the delays in the case.Speaking in court yesterday, he said: "They only identified today that the car was available for forensic examination - potentially important evidence."Article six of the Human Rights Convention has not been met. The overriding criminal procedure rule is to deal with matters efficiently and expeditiously and all parties are duty bound in their roles to do this. Clearly, the Crown has not met its responsibility to do this."We are of the view that it would be an abuse of process for this court to continue this prosecution."

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