Man who hit boy on M62 cleared of danger driving

Callum Rycroft died after being hit by a car driven by Shahid Ilyas

A driver who hit and killed a child as he attempted to cross a motorway has been found not guilty of dangerous driving.

Shahid Ilyas struck 12-year-old Callum Rycroft on 5 August 2023 as he was led across the M62 in West Yorkshire by his father.

Mr Ilyas, 48, told Bradford Crown Court he stopped after the collision but could not see anything before driving to a safer place and stopping again.

Earlier that night Callum's father Matthew Rycroft had crashed the car he and his son were travelling in while drink driving. He admitted manslaughter and was jailed for 10 years in November.

Matthew Rycroft had been urged not to drive by family but ignored them

Mr Ilyas, of Moorfield Chase in Farnworth, Bolton, told the court he stopped immediately following the collision, between junctions 25 and 26, at 21:47 BST.

He said he got out of his hired Toyota C-HR but could not see anything.

Unbeknown to Mr Ilyas, Callum, who had been with his father seeing family in Huddersfield, had been thrown into the opposite lane, dying as a result of the collision.

Mr Ilyas said he realised he had pulled over in a live lane, as that section of the M62 was a smart motorway and did not have a hard shoulder.

He said he saw cars "flying past" and then drove for around four minutes before stopping at a petrol station in Bradford.

"I did not see any safe place other than the service station where I stopped," Mr Ilyas told the court.

"I was just looking for a service station or a well-lit area where I could stop safely."

'I re-live that trauma'

Mr Ilyas was not accused of being criminally liable for Callum's death, but was told that continuing to drive for two and a half miles after the collision was dangerous due to the condition of his car.

"I was in shock," Mr Ilyas said, adding that he was receiving counselling for post-traumatic stress disorder.

"I re-live that trauma every day."

The prosecution alleged that Mr Ilyas could have stopped when the motorway's hard shoulder came back into use or in a lay-by.

CCTV images showed that half of the windscreen was smashed, but Mr Ilyas insisted he could still see where he was going and that he did not see any lay-bys.

Michael Smith, prosecuting, said Mr Ilyas had called the owner of the rental car company from the petrol station 11 minutes after the collision and told him "that he had hit an animal."

The following day Mr Ilyas learned of Callum's death and "thought it was too much of a coincidence", the jury heard.

The prosecutor said Mr Ilyas called the police the following evening and said he may have been involved in the incident and handed himself in.

Mr Ilyas said: "My life has been turned upside down by this accident.

"I didn't break any laws and yet I am being treated like a criminal."

The jury took 74 minutes to find Mr Ilyas not guilty.

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