A man who drove drunk and left his son on a highway before he was struck and killed by a car has been sentenced to 10 years in prison for manslaughter. Callum Rycroft, who was only 12 years old, died while trying to cross the M62 with his father, Matthew Rycroft, in West Yorkshire on August 5th. The court heard that Matthew Rycroft had drunk alcohol at a cricket club in Huddersfield before driving the pair home in a silver Audi Q5 courtesy car. After 21:05 BST, the car swerved before it hit a barrier, flipping over on the exit at Hartshead Moor services.
CCTV footage showed Rycroft and Callum walking along the hard shoulder of the M62 when they attempted to cross back, Rycroft reached the hard shoulder and carried on walking while his son was left behind and then struck by a car. Rycroft was found hiding in bushes by the fire service. Prosecution barrister Michael Smith reported that at Leeds General Infirmary, Rycroft did not mention Callum at all and swore at the staff. When he was told about his son’s passing, he became upset.
Barrister Matthew Harding, defending Rycroft, said: “He will have to live with the utterly tragic consequences of that night for the rest of his life. It is a punishment well in excess of any that your lordship must and will impose.” Judge Guy Kearl KC told Rycroft that he had several opportunities to “wait for help” and could have called for assistance instead of abandoning his son and attempting to flee the scene.
Claire Bancroft, the mother of the deceased boy, wrote in a victim impact statement, “Callum was with someone who he trusted the most. Someone who should have kept him safe and brought him home.” She also described her son as having had “such an impact” on everyone who met him. In addition to his 10-year jail sentence, Rycroft was disqualified from driving for nine years and seven months
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