THREE men from York have been found guilty of the manslaughter of Sam Wilson, who died after he was assaulted and then hit by a taxi in Haxby Road.

Linden Lee Smith, 20, Jack David Alexander, 21 and Robbie Mark McHale, 20, were unanimously found guilty by a jury at Leeds Crown Court yesterday of unlawfully killing Mr Wilson, 21, pictured, early on October 11 last year. A judge will sentence the three today.

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Mr Wilson was left unconscious in the road after the assault and sustained an “unsurvivable fractured skull” and other injuries when run over by the taxi. The jury of nine women and three men also convicted the trio of assaulting Mr Wilson’s friend, Henry Smith, in the same incident.

Mr Justice Globe remanded all three defendants in custody overnight to await sentence after hearing from their counsel they were not requesting pre-sentence reports.

He also thanked the jury on behalf of the criminal justice system. He said: “It has been obvious to me that you have been as diligent as you can be throughout the whole process of the trial.”

The jury heard during the trial that Mr Wilson, of Haxby, and his friend decided to walk to a club in the city centre when there was not enough room for them in the taxi taken by the rest of their group.

McHale, of Fifth Avenue, Tang Hall, Linden Smith, of Kirkham Avenue, Bell Farm and Alexander, of Fox Covert, Huntington, York were on bikes with two girls going to a house party in New Earswick when the two groups passed each other.

Graham Reeds QC, prosecuting, said words were exchanged which then led to a confrontation between Linden Smith and Robbie McHale and the two victims.

Mr Reeds said it was the Crown’s case McHale started the violence by swinging at Mr Wilson, leading to Henry Smith defending his friend and punching McHale a hard blow to the side of his head, breaking two bones in his hand in the process.

McHale and Henry Smith were fighting in the road before Alexander appeared and shouted at them to stop. Mr Reeds told the jury Henry Smith thought that was the end, but when his friend verbally abused the trio, Alexander turned aggressive and he then punched Mr Wilson who fell to the ground.

Henry Smith was then assaulted before he managed to run away and phone the police.

The three defendants left Mr Wilson unconscious in the road and cycled off and it was then taxi driver Dennis Ellerby ran over him, not realising it was a person until he was too close to stop.

Mr Reeds said Mr Ellerby was not speeding and was paying proper attention to the road.

“Even though he braked he was unable to avoid running over Sam Wilson because of the position in which he had been left as a result of the attack by these defendants.”

Mr Reeds had told the jury: “The prosecution bring this case on the basis that these defendants caused or substantially contributed to the death of Sam Wilson by attacking him and then leaving him lying insensible in the roadway; leaving him in such a position as allowed him to be run over by the entirely foreseeable arrival of a taxi using a main road from the suburbs to the city centre in the early hours of a busy Saturday morning.”

He told the jury each defendant was responsible in law for the actions of others under the rules of joint enterprise.

“In other words it does not matter who struck the blow, or blows, that rendered Sam Wilson unable to move because each defendant was participating in the attack on both men at the time the relevant blow or blows were struck. What that means is each defendant is therefore a party to causing Sam Wilson’s death.”

York Press:
Police at the scene in Haxby Road, York, where Sam Wilson was killed in October last year