Not guilty to manslaughter but guilty to dangerous driving

The Times, 26th June 1938

Transcript

Dangerous Driving by Ex-RAF Officer

Charles Kendall Grattan Bushe, 22, an ex RAF pilot officer, pleaded “Not Guilty” at Hertfordshire Assizes at Hertford on Tuesday, to the manslaughter of Victor Wright, 18, a cyclist, of Steeple Morden, Cambridgeshire. Wright’s body was found in a hedge on the Baldock to Royston road on May 7.

Mr J.D.Cassells, K.C., prosecuting, said that by Wright’s body was the upturned bicycle. Tyre marks showed that a car had mounted the kerb some 120 feet away, and 65 feet in an adjoining field was found a shoe. On May 9 Bushe reported that he had discovered recent damage on his car and also blood. He did not remember being involved in an accident, and said he would have reported it earlier but thought it was rabbit’s blood on his car.

Bushe, in evidence, said he remembered being dazzled by an approaching car’s headlights and just after remembered mounting the pavement. He had no idea he had struck anybody.

Bushe was found Not Guilty of Manslaughter, but Guilty of Dangerous Driving and was sentenced to three months imprisonment.

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