The Crown Prosecution Service has discontinued the case against a woman from Park Gate who had been charged with causing the death of 20-year-old Marcus Lowbridge by careless driving.
Marcus Lowbridge
In a dramatic unfolding of events at Portsmouth Crown Court the charges against Angela Rawson were dismissed by the judge after the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) said it was no longer going to offer any evidence against her.
Ms Rawson, 56, of Northmore Road, Park Gate, broke down in tears when the news the case was to be discontinued was broken to her outside the courtroom just ahead of her latest hearing. She then appeared in the court, clearly still emotional, for the case to formally be discontinued.
It is understood that the decision was based on the speed Mr Lowbridge had been driving which, the CPS said, was “beyond the range of that which would be expected by a careful and competent motorist”, combined with expert evidence about the difficulty of assessing a motorbike’s speed especially in darkness.
It had been alleged that Ms Rawson had caused the death of Mr Lowbridge by careless driving on March 10 last year when his Suzuki 600cc GSXR motorbike collided with her Nissan Micra car in Hunts Pond Road, at its junction with Admirals Road.
Despite applying his brakes, Mr Lowbridge’s Suzuki struck the offside of Ms Rawson’s car as she was pulling out of the junction. Mr Lowbridge lost control of his motorcycle and was thrown several metres beyond the point of collision.
Mr Lowbridge, who lived at Ilex Crescent in Locks Heath, was taken to Southampton General Hospital where he died.
Prosecuting, Rob Welling said the combination of the speed of the motorbike ridden by Mr Lowbridge together with his visibility meant that, after the prosecution had reassessed the case, they had found there was no realistic evidence to proceed with the case against Ms Rawson.
Flowers left at the crash scene last March in memory of Marcus Lowbridge
Ms Rawson and her family, who were at the hearing to support her, declined to speak to The Gazette after the hearing.
However Marcus Lowbridge’s father Peter said: ”The loss of our son is a tragedy for the family and no outcome in the court of law will change that or bring him back.”
In a statement Fiona Rutherford, Head of the Advocacy Unit for the CPS, said: ”We met with the parents of Mr Lowbridge and informed them that after a careful and thorough review of the evidence in this case, we cannot be satisfied that there is sufficient evidence to provide a realistic prospect of conviction. We have therefore decided to discontinue the proceedings against Ms Rawson.
“It is the duty of the CPS to keep cases under continuous review. Following a further review by the senior crown advocate instructed in the case, we came to the inevitable conclusion that there was not sufficient evidence to provide a realistic prospect of conviction.
“We had grave concerns that we would be unable to prove that Ms Rawson’s driving fell below that of a careful and competent driver. This was mainly due to two reasons, the first was the speed at which Mr Lowbridge was riding his bike and the second was proving that Ms Rawson should have been able to see Mr Lowbridge approaching and accurately assess his speed.
“We explained to Mr Lowbridge’s parents that motorists cannot assume that all other road users will comply with the speed limits. However, the speed at which Mr Lowbridge was travelling was unfortunately beyond the range of that which would be expected by a careful and competent motorist.
“The issue with visibility was coupled with the ability of a motorist to assess the speed of an oncoming vehicle. The prosecution’s expert report accepted that motorcyclists present a particular difficulty for motorists, especially at night because all they have as a reference point is one headlight.
“After having considered all the evidence in this case, the Prosecution has had to accept that the combination of these two factors mean we could not prove that the standard of Ms Rawson’s driving fell below that of a careful and competent driver and as such the ‘evidential test’ was not met to provide a realistic prospect of conviction.
“We understand that this is a very difficult time for Mr and Mrs Lowbridge and their family and our thoughts are with them.”