Teen driver of car that killed Alison McBlain tells jury 'it was a genuine accident'

Giving evidence at Preston Crown Court on Monday, defendant, Kaylib Connolly, 19, said he’d only meant to scare victim, Mr Rivers, and did not realise he'd hit Alison during the events of November 19 2019.

Connolly, who had just turned 18 at the time of Alison's death, had been the driver of the Fiat Punto that hit her and Mr Rivers, but told the jury in the murder trial that it was a ‘genuine accident’, and he 'didn’t mean to do it'.

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Answering questions as he was cross-examined by his co-defendant's barristers, Connolly also told the court he'd initially lied to the police claiming he wasn't the driver, but later changed his defence story in March 2020, admitting to his part in the killing of the 36-year-old.

Being quizzed about the moment he hit Christian and Alison, after turning the Punto's headlights off, he said: "I turned the headlights off so people didn't think I was just stopped on the street and I forgot to turn them back on again. 

"The road was well lit and when I turned into King Street I saw Alison and Christian walking up the road.

"I beeped the horn to scare Christian and then he started running across the road."

Referring to the drug ttheft on the previous evening, in which it was claimed Mr Rivers had been in possession of a knife, which he has denied, Connolly told the jury: "I swerved towards him, because I wanted to scare him like he'd scared me the night before.

"I slowed down and Christian was just reaching the kerb, and I swerved towards him.

"I misjudged how close the kerb was and the tyre hit the kerb and then I crashed into a wall.

"I didn't mean to do it, this was a genuine accident. The car smashed into the kerb and then just hit them.

"I don't think there was anyway I could've stopped, I put my foot down to try and brake but I think I hit the accelerator instead.

"I just remember smashing into the kerb and at that moment in time I wasn't sure who I'd hit.

"But then I realised I'd hit Christian but didn't know I'd hit Alison."

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Connolly said he was in shock, and began to panic, wanting to get out of the car to see what had happened, but was told by the other occupants, Dean Qayum and Josh Titterington, to drive away.

He continued: "Josh was screaming at me and I just kept apologising. Dean just said 'drive drive, I'm wanted, I can't stay here, just drive'.

"I was panicking, I didn't know what to do. I was just saying, 'that wasn't supposed to happen, sorry, I didn't mean to do that'.

"I was in shock. I didn't know what to do. It was just happening over and over in my head."

The jury heard how the foursome, including a youth defendant who cannot be named for legal reasons, abandoned the car nearby, which is when Titterington produced a knife and began slashing the back seats.

Connolly added: "Then he passed me the knife and I said 'what do you want me to do with that?', he said 'just slash the seats and burn the car, I'm not getting done for this, I don't want anything to do with it'.

"Josh jumped over a wall onto the train tracks and told me to go with him. He kept shouting at me, and I was being sick on the train tracks, it just kept going over and over in my head."

The cross-examination continued, with Connolly being asked about his initial interviews with the police, and why he lied to them and his mother about being the driver of the car.

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Explaining how it took a while for him to come to terms with the reality of the situation he told the jury the lies were told in panic, saying: "I hadn't thought that far ahead about telling the police what had happened.

"But I knew it was an accident, I just didn't want to let my mum down. I had just turned 18 and I had been charged with murder. Reality then sank in and I had to tell the truth."

Defence barrister Richard English asked Connolly whether there had been any kind of plan to inflict 'minor injuries' on Mr Rivers, saying: "You knew that Dean wanted to hurt Christian and get back at him.

"So there was a plan to punish him for taxing the drugs and that plan involved you and Dean as that was something you talked about.

"And that was some form of physical attack to cause Mr Rivers some kind of minor injury. Is that the truth?"

Connolly replied yes, but told the court only he and Qayum had discussed the matter, with neither the youth, nor Titterington having anything to do with the Bully line or the so-called 'plan'.

(Proceeding).