Driver of car that hit boy, 12, trying to run across M62 says he 'couldn't stop on motorway'

A man accused of dangerous driving and failing to stop when a young boy was killed on the M62 will say he "couldn't stop on the motorway", a court has been told.

Callum Rycroft, 12, was run over while trying to run across the motorway at night following his dad, who had drunkenly crashed their car and was trying to flee on foot on 5 August last year.

Matthew Rycroft was jailed for 10 years in November for the manslaughter of his son.

The driver of the car that hit Callum, Shahid Ilyas, has been charged with driving dangerously.

Ilyas, 48, of Moorfield Chase in Farnworth, Bolton, is also accused of failing to stop the Toyota C-HR and report the accident on the M62 and Whitehall Road in Cleckheaton, in West Yorkshire.

He has pleaded not guilty to the three charges, with a trial date set for 10 October at Bradford Crown Court.

Ilyas's lawyer told the court: "He says he couldn't stop on the motorway. He stopped at the first place that seemed safe to him."

Callum was hit while crossing between junctions 25 and 26 of the M62 at about 9.50pm.

Leeds Crown Court was told that Rycroft was driving drunk on the motorway when he collided with a barrier and overturned his Audi Q5 on the slip road to Hartshead Moor services, near Huddersfield.

The Crown Prosecution Service said Callum had no speed awareness due to his autism and "should have been under the protection of his father", who instead ran across the motorway and did not look back for his son who had been struck while trying to run with him.