Whitefield: Verdict on fatal Bury New Road crash driver

Usher Donson, 27, had been driving a silver BMW on Bury New Road, Whitefield in November 2021 when he was involved in a crash which killed 31-year-old Aaron Jarvis.

At a trial which concluded this week, Donson was found guilty of both causing the death of Mr Jarvis and of causing serious injury to another man by dangerous driving.

In his closing statement Henry Blackshaw, prosecuting said: “He must have been accelerating aggressively to reach the speed that he did.

“He must have failed to have regard to the warning signs.”

The trial took place at Bolton Crown Court (Image: Newsquest)

The trial at Bolton Crown Court this week heard how Mr Jarvis, from Stoke-on-Trent had been a passenger while Donson, of Dallow Road, Luton, was driving on the morning of November 4 2021.

Witnesses described how the car crossed the central reservation onto the opposing carriageway before colliding with a black Renault Megane at around 6.10am.

Donson and another man were seen running away from the scene of crash before returning to retrieve Donson's mobile phone.

The men then got into a taxi and travelled to Whalley Range where the defendant’s girlfriend is said to have lived.

Mr Jarvis had been sitting on a back passenger seat of the car and suffered "catastrophic" head injuries.

 He was pronounced dead at Royal Salford Hospital later that morning.

Another passenger in the car was seriously injured after the crash.

Paul Treble, defending, had told the jury that the speed at which Donson had been driving was not extreme and argued that his actions in the aftermath of the crash were as a result of the crisis he was facing.

He said: “Can you imagine how other people felt who were in the whole collision as the defendant was, in moments of crisis you never how we are going to react.”

ALSO READ: Driver ran off after crash that left man dead, court hears

ALSO READ: Driver accused of killing passenger in Whitefield crash 'not dangerous', court hears

ALSO READ: Driver 'panicked' and fled car after fatal crash, court hears

Mr Treble argued that irrespective of his responsibility for the crash “this was a terrible collision, he may have wanted to run away from that.”

“His case is it was [him] driving, it wasn’t dangerous, it wasn’t careless.”

But after less than a day of deliberations, the jury decided to convict Donson of both causing death by dangerous driving and causing serious injury by dangerous driving.

He will be brought before Manchester Minshull Street Crown Court on Tuesday June 26 to be sentenced.