The key facts

  • Simon Richardson found guilty of murdering Stretford Grammar School head teacher Michael Mullins after a two-week trial in Manchester
  • Simon Richardson has been found guilty of the murder of Stretford Grammar School head teacher Michael Mullins after a two-week trial in Manchester
  • The key witness was his cousin Gabrielle Debott, who was in the car and voluntarily went to the police
  • A key witness was his cousin Gabrielle Debott, who was in the car and voluntarily went to the police
  • Richardson declined to give evidence; sentencing will take place on Monday

The passenger's confession became the turning point of the case

A court in Manchester found 35-year-old former mechanic Simon Richardson guilty of the murder of 56-year-old head teacher of Stretford Grammar School Michael Mullins, BBC News reports. Mullins was struck by a Volvo XC90 while cycling home from school to Northwich (Cheshire), became trapped in the wheel arch, and was dragged for more than a mile.

The course of events on 20 April

According to the investigation and testimony in court, on 20 April Richardson was driving his cousin Gabrielle Debott from Altrincham to a beauty salon in Lymm. According to Debott, he was driving very fast and, when she asked him to slow down, merely 'grinned', saying he was a 'professional driver'. At around 18:07, at a junction in Warburton, the Volvo ignored the signs and hit the cyclist. Debott said she shouted 'bicycle' three times, but Richardson did not brake.

What turned the collision into murder

The prosecution's case rested on the claim that Richardson knew a person was trapped under the car. Prosecutor Phil Barnes KC asked the jury to imagine travelling at more than 60 mph 'with a fully grown man trapped in the suspension and steering mechanism of the wheel'. The key evidence was Debott's own confession: the next day, in a state she herself described as hysterical, she approached her manager at the nursery, then voluntarily went to the police and named the driver. She said she heard moans from under the car, and Richardson shouted: 'He's under the car.' According to her, on Wet Gate Lane in Lymm he tried three times to pull the victim out, moved the steering wheel with the engine running, and then drove on; clock and phone data confirmed a 90-second stop, and cameras at a nearby farm captured the car swerving from side to side. Mullins was thrown onto the verge about a mile from the crash site and died; motorcyclist Andrew Beasant-Roberts found him by following a trail of blood and called an ambulance, but it was too late.

After the crash and the defence's position

A few minutes after the collision, cameras captured Richardson and Debott at the Lymm Service Station petrol station, after which they completed their trip to pick up weight-loss medication. At home, according to Debott, Richardson drank her father's alcohol with a friend, and when she asked them to leave, he punched a hole in the plaster and kicked a chair; he also dictated to her a cover story for the police, which she wrote down in an app but decided to tell the truth instead. Based on a description of the van into which Richardson had swapped the Volvo, police found him the next day in Flixton; he tried to hide and then to flee on foot. Defence counsel Jamie Hamilton KC explained that Richardson denied knowing there was a person under the car and denied getting out of the vehicle. He himself refused to answer police questions and did not give evidence. Sentencing will take place on Monday.

The contrast between the fates and circumstances highlighted in court

The BBC notes the contrast between the participants in the tragedy: less than a month before the crash, Richardson had been released from custody after serving 47 days on remand ahead of sentencing for stalking, harassment, threats of property damage and assaulting an emergency services worker, and on 26 March received a non-punitive community order. Mullins, meanwhile, had led Stretford Grammar School for 17 years, where he was described as a man of 'unshakeable principles and a compassionate leader', regularly cycled the 19 miles home, and, according to his family, 'truly excelled' in his role as a grandfather.

A white man wearing a black bubble coat, with the hood up, and black trousers walks across a petrol forecourt away from a black Volvo XC90 estate style car.Image source, GMP
Image caption,

Simon Richardson stopped at a petrol station minutes after he killed cyclist Michael Mullins

Michael Mullins shown with sitting on a sofa with his glasses resting up on his foreheadImage source, Family photograph
Image caption,

Michael was described as a beloved husband, father and grandfather, who 'truly excelled' in his 'role as grandad'

Image shows Michael Mullins, a bald, middle-aged man wearing glasses and a checked shirt with a blue tie.Image source, Stretford Grammar School
Image caption,

Michael Mullins was a beloved husband, father and grandfather

Michael Mullins standing in front of a blue lake in black overcoat and red beannie hatImage source, Family photograph
Image caption,

Michael was a lover of sport, a keen cyclist and remained physically fit, the trial heard

Map showing the 2.2km route taken by Simon Richardson after a collision near Warburton, Greater Manchester, in which cyclist Michael Mullins was killed. The map marks the site of the initial collision, where Mullins's body was later found near a farm, and a point where Richardson briefly left his car. A wider map of Greater Manchester below shows Richardson was later seen at a petrol station in Lymm, swapped the car for a van at a pub in Altrincham, and was arrested the following day in Failsworth.
Image caption,

Michael Mullins was dragged for a mile by driver Simon Richardson

A CCTV image showing a black Volvo estate style car, with a visible dent in the bonnet and a cracked windscreen. A white man in his 30s, with dark hair and a black t-shirt is visible with his hand on the steering wheel. A woman in the passenger seat has been hidden by blurring.Image source, GMP
Image caption,

CCTV caught Richardson driving away from the crash scene while Michael Mullins was trapped under the wheels

Michael Mullins is pictured next to his two young children. All three are smiling at the camera.Image source, Family photo
Image caption,

Michael Mullins had been the head teacher of Stretford Grammar School for 17 years

Michael Mullins is pictured next to his two young children. All three are smiling at the camera.Image shows Michael Mullins, a bald, middle-aged man wearing glasses and a checked shirt with a blue tie.A CCTV image showing a black Volvo estate style car, with a visible dent in the bonnet and a cracked windscreen. A white man in his 30s, with dark hair and a black t-shirt is visible with his hand on the steering wheel. A woman in the passenger seat has been hidden by blurring.A CCTV image showing a black Volvo estate style car, with a visible dent in the bonnet and a cracked windscreen. A white man in his 30s, with dark hair and a black t-shirt is visible with his hand on the steering wheel. A woman in the passenger seat has been hidden by blurring.A white man wearing a black bubble coat, with the hood up, and black trousers walks across a petrol forecourt away from a black Volvo XC90 estate style car.