A party of motorcyclists have today been banned from the roads for four years but have escaped jail, following a 145-mile ride which ended in the tragic death of one of their group.

Martin Firth aged 33 of Beal, near Goole, died when the motorcycle he was riding, left the road continued down an embankment and came to rest in trees.

Paul Andrew Backhouse 48, of Thorpe Audlin, Pontefract, Kevin Moreton, 49, of Ferrybridge, Peter Jackson, 48, of Knottingley and Andrew Paul Holland, 35, of South Kirby, Pontefract each received a nine-month suspended sentence and banned from driving for four years for dangerous driving.

A jury found all four guilty following a three-week trial at York Crown Court in December last year. On the morning of Sunday 15 October 2006, five bikers, all riding high-powered sports bikes, set off on a cross-country ride - only four of them returned home.

Four of the group chose to wear high-visibility vests with the title; ‘Two Wheeled Advanced Training School’ emblazoned on the back.

Their ride began in South Milford near Sherburn-in-Elmett and followed a cross-country route taking in Escrick, Elvington, Stamford Bridge, Fridaythorpe, Sledmere to Bridlington then along the coast road to Scarborough and then back again from Scarborough via Staxton Hill, Foxholes, Sledmere, North Grimston to Malton, and back to South Milford along the original route taken.

Towards the end of their ride at around 5pm, as the group travelled along the Sherburn-in-Elmett by-pass, one of the bikes, ridden by Martin Firth, left the road resulting in fatal injuries to Mr Firth. There followed a lengthy police investigation into the collision during which officers interviewed over 70 witnesses and took 78 witness statements and viewed ten hours of CCTV footage.

As a result of the painstaking and detailed examination of all the evidence, officers were able to piece together the riders’ movements, speed and manner of driving along the route.

Adhering to the speed limits, the route would have taken 5 hours to complete - the group took just 3 hours.

Eye-witness accounts said the group were seen ‘pulling wheelies’ at speed, at one point across both carriageways of a two-way road.