Unqualified driver ploughed into young landscape gardener in fatal hit and run

Tragically, award-winning landscape gardener Matthew Bradley, who was in Liverpool for a stag weekend, was the second member of his family to die in a road traffic accident.

The driver, Thomas Bimson, who had spent the evening drinking with friends, did not stop at the scene on Liverpool’s waterfront, but sped off in a high performance BMW 330X.

The car was on hire to his front seat passenger Ibrar Saddique, from Sunnybank Lane, Pudsey, and laid low for three days so his blood alcohol level at the time could not be detected.

The judge told Saddique, whom he jailed for 18 months, that he had considered himself too drunk to drive and it was inconceivable he did not realise that Bimson had probably drunk more than him and would be equally, if not more, affected by alcohol.

“In those circumstances Ibrar Saddique’s decision to hand the car keys to Thomas Bimson is inexplicable and unforgivable,” said Judge Neil Flewitt, QC.

The two men had been convicted after a trial at the city’s crown court during which the jury heard that they abandoned the vehicle, for which insurance had expired, shortly after the collision. They were seen burning something, believed to connect them to the vehicle, and got a taxi back to Bimson’s nearby home.

Ironically, this journey took them past the scene of the tragedy where emergency services were desperately trying to treat the 24-year-old victim, who had been thrown 30 metres through the air and suffered “catastrophic” head and neck injuries and died later in hospital.

Matthew, who originates from Glenavy in County Antrim, and who has since been honoured with a prestigious landscape gardening award in his name, had crossed two lanes of The Strand by the Hilton Hotel at about 11.45 pm on November 3, 2017 before being struck by the BMW.

Jailing Bimson, 23, of Waterloo Warehouse, Vauxhall, Liverpool - who had never taken a driving test - Judge Flewiit, said Saddique had “turned a blind eye” to the fact that Bimson would not be insured to drive the vehicle.

After leaving the Malmaison Hotel, further along the water front, where they had been drinking Aperol Spritzer cocktails for several hours, Bimson took the car for “a spin” around the city centre.

“It is clear that Thomas Bimson was putting the BMW through its paces and taking every opportunity to see how fast he could drive it.”

He drove around breaking the speed limit while Saddique did nothing to discourage him “in such a reckless manner,” said the judge.

At the time of the collision he was travelling at 48.6 mph on the road, limited to 30 mph, and as he approached the Hilton Hotel Mr Bradley decided to cross the road towards the Albert Dock.

“That decision which was in all probability influenced by his consumption of alcohol and which was described by experts as ‘injudicious’ undoubtedly contributed to the fatal collision which followed.”

But he said that cars in the other two lanes had slowed down to allow Mr Bradley to cross and if Bimson had been paying proper attention and not speeding he would have seen him sooner and would have had to time to avoid the collision.

“Matthew Bradley’s death, at the age of only 24 years, is a tragedy which words cannot describe. He had a job which he loved, designing and creating gardens and he was looking forward spending the rest of his life with his fiancee Rhiannon.”

He said that more than 20 years ago his parents lost another son, five-year-old David, in a road traffic accident close to their home. “To lose another son in similar circumstances in an unimaginable horror which no family should have to bear.

“It will, I hope, be some small comfort to Matthew Bradley’s family that his memory will live on in the community garden which he designed for the local village hall in his home town,” said Judge Flewitt.

He criticised Bimson for trying to persuade the jury that Mr Bradley had been the author of his own misfortune “when in fact he was the victim of an appalling episode of dangerous driving.”

He banned Bimson from driving for 12 years and disqualified 35-year-old Saddique, a father-of-one, from driving for three years nine months.

In a heart-breaking impact statement Matthew’s girlfriend Rhiannon Williams told how they met on Friday, 13, 2016 while they were working on site at the Chelsea Flower Show and they “just clicked.”

He had been working for his father Donal’s landscaping firm but over Christmas that year he got a job with the same firm as her, Landform Consultants, and moved in with her and her family in Guildford, Surrey. She said that their boss has arranged for a tree to be planted in Matthew’s memory in Kew Gardens.

He has also arranged for an award, the Matthew Bradley Award for Excellence in Construction, to be given at the annual Association of Professional Landscapers competition. “This award will be given every year and will keep the memory of him alive.”

She and her boyfriend had designed a garden for the RHS Hampton Court Flower Show which they submitted on the day of his death and afterwards her boss encouraged her to build it as “a tribute to Matthew, showcasing the talent and skills he would pride himself on.

“The garden was everything I thought it would be, it was perfect …..there were times when I didn’t think I could build it without him but I found the strength and I think I did him proud.”

She told they had planned to marry by now and spend their lives together. “Not only have I lost the love of my life, I have lost my future. I’ve lost everything. I don’t get to have his children. I don’t get to have our wedding. I don’t get to build our dream house. I don’t get to live our future. He truly was like no one else I had ever met.”

Matthew’s dad, Donal, spoke of his grief at losing both his sons and described his pride for Matthew, who began helping out with his business when he was just ten. “I was even more proud when he was chosen to represent the UK at World Skills held in Leipzig, Germany in 2013.”

His devastated mum, Margaret, a psyiotherapist, told how “He was just at the start of his career, but had already won award after award for his work, and showed so much promise.”

She stated, “To know that my beautiful son has been killed is horrendous. But to also know who did this just drove away is truly unbearable.

“I think constantly: they killed him, and their first thoughts weren’t to stop, to see if there was still a pulse, to phone for an ambulance to help, or to show the tiniest touch of human compassion to just kneel beside him so he wasn’t entirely alone when he took his final breath.

“No, instead they just sped away. They sped away, and abandoned the car in the hope that they would get away with what they had done.

“Matthew lay lifeless on the road while paramedics frantically worked on him and dozens of good, decent people tried to help. All strangers to my son, but all desperately hoping there was something they could do.

“A mother never stops wanting to protect their children from any harm. I will be forever grateful to those kind souls that tried to protect my son when I couldn’t keep him safe.”

She also told how her three daughters are also struggling to cope with losing him.

Bimson was convicted last week of causing death by dangerous driving and also causing death by driving without insurance and without a licence.

Saddique was convicted of aiding and abetting causing death by driving while uninsured.