David Fudge death: Police officers disagree over fatal crash

Police officers disagree over a crash which has led to an 88-year-old driver standing trial accused of killing a motorcyclist.

William Curtis was in collision with David Fudge, 66, after doing a U-turn on the A4146 near Billington, Bedfordshire, on 18 November 2018.

An officer told jurors of differences between him and another officer, such as choice of where to make the U-turn.

Mr Curtis, of Northamptonshire, denies causing death by careless driving.

Cambridge Crown Court heard Mr Curtis, of Oak Close, Irchester, was driving his wife in a Hyundai i10 and, shortly after 13:00 GMT, took the "wrong exit at a roundabout".

The court heard the A4146 was a three-lane single carriageway with a national speed limit of 60mph (95km/h).

Mr Curtis pulled into a "patch of hard standing" at an access gate next to the one-lane southbound side of the road, and from there was attempting to perform a U-turn to the two-lane northbound side of the road, jurors were told.

Jurors heard Mr Fudge, who was travelling southbound and performing a lawful overtake, collided with Mr Curtis and was pronounced dead at the scene.

Forensic collision investigator PC Ed Colley previously told jurors "Mr Curtis at least should give consideration to the fact a vehicle may overtake there".

On Wednesday, another forensic collision investigator PC Bruce Lister, who attended the scene and produced a report in 2019, told the court he disagreed with PC Colley.

The court has heard a joint report had also been prepared between four experts, including the two officers, which had points of agreement and disagreement.

PC Lister, a defence witness, said: "One of the issues we disagree on is the choice of U-turn location."

Jurors heard it was possible that Mr Fudge was obscured by the car he was overtaking.

"It's the nub of the case really. In my view if the motorcycle was out of view of Mr Curtis at the time he decided to perform his manoeuvre... that's the important factor," said PC Lister.

He added that if Mr Curtis had cleared the southbound lane and "not caused any issue to [the car driver]... other than [that the car driver] said he eased off the accelerator... I don't think that's anything unusual."

PC Lister, in his own 2019 report, concluded: "The causation factor in the collision being that neither the rider nor the driver have seen the other prior to commencing their respective manoeuvres."

The officer who reviewed PC Lister's report, PC Matthew Hollingsworth, has previously accepted there were errors in the preparation of that report.

But PC Lister agreed with prosecution barrister Simon Wilshire that, in spite of issues in his own report, he still had points of disagreement with PC Colley.

The trial continues.

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