Audi driver sentenced at Teesside Crown Court for death of 35-year-old motorcyclist in Hartlepool collision

Callum Burr, 24, had owned the Audi A4 for only an hour before the death of Michael Clarke, 35, in Hartlepool.

Police investigators said that Burr should have seen the biker who had been travelling at 55mph or 65mph on a 30mph stretch of Chester Road, on November 24, 2020.

Mr Clarke died at the scene leaving a young daughter, Teesside Crown Court was told on Thursday.

Burr, a dad of three, pleaded guilty to causing death by careless driving on the second day of his trial on January 16.

Stephen Constantine, defending, said in mitigation: “He does not seek to blame anybody else.

”In his words he said that he would not wish this on anyone.”

Prosecutor Sue Hirst said that Burr had swapped his Ford Fiesta for the Audi just an hour earlier and had dropped off a friend in Chester Road after a visit to Argos.

She said that Mr Clarke’s speed was irrelevant because he had the right of way and that Burr should not have pulled out.

Burr initially told police that he checked his mirror and there was nothing on the road “which was obviously not correct,” said Miss Hirst.

The motorcycle ended up on the opposite side of the road and collided with a stationary Ford Focus car.

Mr Clarke died as a result of injuries he sustained.

Burr had nine penalty points on his licence at the time for offences of no insurance and using a mobile phone at the wheel.

Miss Hirst told the judge: “The prosecution say that the motorcyclist would have been visible to him for some distance.”

Judge Deborah Sherwin said that Burr was working and supporting a family and that the interest of the public could be met by him serving a sentence in the community.

Burr, of Commercial Street, Trimdon Colliery, was given a 30 weeks jail sentence suspended for two years with 250 hours unpaid work.

He was also disqualified from driving for 18 months without an order to pass an extended driving test.