Man denies driving car that killed aspiring doctor

Ashton Kitchen-White, 19, died after he was struck by a red Ford Focus ST on Ring Road, Beeston Park

A man has denied driving a car that struck and killed an aspiring doctor as he crossed a road in Leeds.

Regan Kemp, 26, is on trial at Leeds Crown Court accused of causing the death of Ashton Kitchen-White, 19, by dangerous driving. Mr Kitchen-White was struck by a Ford Focus ST on Ring Road, Beeston Park, on 16 May.

Defending, Syam Soni told the court on Wednesday that his client would not be giving evidence and claimed that his friend Liam Miller, 24, was the driver.

The defendant, of Penzance in Cornwall, had travelled to Leeds from Scotland with Mr Miller and another man, Macauley Martin, 26.

Mr Miller and Mr Martin, both from West Lothian, were arrested along with Mr Kemp at the time of the crash, but not charged after they maintained they had been travelling separately in a Mini Cooper.

Prosecutor Paul Mitchell showed the court CCTV footage which showed Mr Kemp filling up the Focus at a petrol station as the driver and that his "fingerprints were also on the bonnet of the Focus and his DNA was on a bottle in the car".

"There was no DNA or fingerprints from the other two men," he added.

Further footage was shown of a video taken from the back seat of the Focus at the moment Mr Kitchen-White was struck.

Mr Mitchell said: "You can hear Mr Kemp's accent and see it is him driving" and noted that the other two men had Scottish accents.

Car abandoned

After the collision took place, the court heard the vehicle, which was left with a shattered windscreen, was abandoned.

CCTV then showed a man running down a street in a panicked state and shouting before getting into the Mini Cooper with the two other men, which then was driven back to Scotland.

Kemp then travelled back to his home in Penzance and handed himself in to police four days later, but did not answer questions during his interview.

"He is consistent. He did not stop and help the man or see what had happened. He drove away and then ran away and has been running away ever since," Mr Mitchell told the court.

"When it came to his trial he did not even have the courage to give evidence.

"He is a coward, running away from what he did from the moment it happened until now. The end of his running is now."

Mr Mitchell added that he thought the reason Mr Kemp did not want to give evidence was because he "perhaps did not want the jury to see him properly or hear his West Country accent so you can't recognise him in the car".

Mr Soni said the defence had called no witnesses.

"Even though he answered "no comment" to most of the questions in his police interview, he also at some point said the words, 'not my vehicle' and 'I was not the driver'," he said.

He also noted Mr Kemp's injuries consisted of just a bruise even though the windscreen of the car was shattered by the impact of the collision.

In a tribute released at the time of his death, Mr Kitchen-White's family said he was "one in a million" and had been due to start a medical degree at the University of Leeds.

The trial continues.

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