A MAN has been cleared of causing the death of a Radcliffe teenager by dangerous driving.

The jury at Bolton Crown Court took two hours to return a verdict of not guilty to clear Paul Madeley, aged 31, of Grindrod Street, Radcliffe.

Natalie Danielle Pickwick Jones, aged 15, was crossing Bolton Road, near to its junction with the Chefs Pantry sandwich shop, at 11.15pm on February 27 this year, when she was struck by Madeley driving a Toyota MR2. She died on arrival at Fairfield Hospital.

Today, her father David said: "We are heartbroken not just for Natalie. My wife Elaine and I dont know how we are going to rebuild our lives. We just wanted justice for our daughter, but we feel we have been let down."

The accident happened as Madeley was driving a friend home to Bradley Fold.

The jury was told on the first day of the four-day trial how Natalie and her group of friends had gathered at a bus stop at the bottom of Ainsworth Road earlier in the evening.

Mr Paul McDonald, prosecuting, said: "The group often did this, and often took alcohol not an uncommon feature these days. The group would also often persuade members of the public to go into shops and buy alcohol for them. Natalie might already have consumed alcohol that night, as tests showed, following her death, that she was two times over the legal limit."

Madeley, who delivers courtesy cars for an accident management company, was questioned about the speed he had been driving that night.

He told the court he was driving through Radcliffe towards his friend's home, when he overtook a Peugeot 106 that was travelling towards Bolton.

Accident investigators told the court that Madeley was travelling at about 58mph when he applied the brakes and went into a 30-metre skid. He then collided with the teenager outside the Chef's Pantry sandwich shop. He hit her at a speed that tests suggest was around 36 mph.

Madeley told the court: "Until I saw Natalie I did not know there were any pedestrians about. She came out of nowhere.