This is the moment a cowboy builder led police on a 12-minute chase before mowing down a beloved mother of three as she played golf.
John McDonald, 52, drove ‘recklessly without a care for anyone’ on the wrong side of the road, reaching speeds of 70mph in a 30mph zone and ramming police before trying to escape through the golf course where Suzanne Cherry, 62, had just played her second shot.
Mrs Cherry was with her husband Clinton Harrison who watched in ‘helpless horror’ as McDonald’s van careered down an embankment and towards a stream where his wife was looking for her ball.
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He told how he shouted ‘Sue’ as loud as he could and she turned but the van hit her as she could ‘not possibly have got out of the way – there just wasn’t time to react’.
Mr Harrison said he shouted, ‘You bastards have killed my wife,’ as he watched three men get out of the van and flee.
He said the driver ‘actually stepped over Sue as he ran from the van’ adding: ‘I was just screaming so I knew they would have my screams ringing in their ears for the rest of their lives.’
Mrs Cherry suffered multiple serious injuries. She had her leg amputated in hospital but died four days later.
On Monday, McDonald, who the court heard did not have a driving licence and could not read or write, admitted causing death by dangerous driving in relation to the crash at Aston Wood Golf Club in Shenstone, near Sutton Coldfield, on April 11 last year.
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Suzanne Cherry, 62, was playing golf with her husband when she was hit by a van being chased by police
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John McDonald, 51, pleaded guilty to causing death by dangerous driving at Worcester Crown Court on Monday in relation to the death of Suzanne Cherry, 62.
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McDonald of Bloxwich also pleaded guilty to conspiracy commit fraud in relation to roofing work between February and April last year along with his son Johnny McDonald, 23, of Dudley and Brett Delany, 35, of Darlaston, Walsall, who were also in the van at the time of the crash.
Worcester Crown Court heard the three men conned elderly and vulnerable victims out of tens of thousands of pounds for shoddy roof work and repairs that did not need doing.
The court was told that on the day of the crash they were following one elderly victim in their grey Nissan van to a cash machine so she could take out money when they were spotted by two police officers in a marked car.
Prosecutor Michael Burrows KC said the officers gave chase after Brett Delaney saw them and turned his head, raising their suspicions.
Over the next 12 minutes the officers pursued the van being driven by McDonald.
In terrifying footage played to the court he can be seen crashing into cars, including one carrying an 11-month-old baby, driving on the wrong side of the road, through red lights and reaching speeds of 70mph in 30mph zones.
McDonald also repeatedly rammed the police car behind him, reversing into it, ‘No doubt trying to disable it,’ Mr Burrows said.
He then drove up a grassy embankment and onto the golf course, where Mrs Cherry was playing with her husband.
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Brett Delaney, 35, yawned throughout Monday’s hearing. He said he had closed his eyes during the chase
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Johnny McDonald, 23, admitted conspiracy commit fraud in relation to roofing work between February and April last year
Mr Burrows said they were due to tee off 10.24am but had got there early and, as there was no one ahead of them, had started sooner.
The prosecutor said the couple ‘started their game as they always did with a peck on the cheek and shook hands’.
He said Mrs Cherry’s tee shot went perfectly straight and they both then played their second shot, and Mrs Cherry’s went towards a stream.
Mr Burrows said Mr Harrison could see his wife 10 to 15 yards ahead of him and then heard sound of a speeding vehicle and saw the van heading straight towards his wife.
‘He could still see her clearly,’ Mr Burrows said. ‘He shouted Sue as loud as he could, she turned but in that moment he saw the van hit her and heard her scream.
‘He said she could not possibly have got out of the way – there just wasn’t time to react.’
The prosecutor said the driver made no attempt to brake and Mr Harrison said he could just see the colour of Sue’s hair.
Mr Burrows said it was at this point the driver’s side door flung open and he saw people ‘decanting from the vehicle’.
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Mrs Cherry, a mother of three, died in hospital four days after the crash
He said the driver ‘actually stepped over Sue as he ran from the van’.
Mr Burrows said teams of paramedics attended the scene and multiple interventions were made so she could be taken to hospital – including an emergency blood transfusion.
She was flown via air ambulance with multiple rib fractures and underwent surgery but CT scans showed serious brain damage.
The court heard the van was travelling at 41 mph five seconds before the airbag deployed.
The three men were arrested days later.
They were initially charged with manslaughter, which they denied.
Delaney, who yawned throughout Monday’s hearing, said he had closed his eyes during the chase.
In moving victim impact statements, which he read to the court, Mr Harrison said: ‘I stand before you today not as a man seeking vengeance but as a man who has had the very foundation of his life destroyed.’
He said his wife was the proud mother of three adult children and a dedicated stepmother whose children relied on her ‘not just as a mother but a trustee, confidante, friend and steady anchor’.
Through tears, he said: ‘They have lost a person who would cheer on their careers and stand beside them at every major event of their life.
‘They stole every single future milestone she deserved to witness.’
He said she was ‘killed on a peaceful golf course, an innocent bystander in the wake of these criminals attempting to escape their own poor choices’.
‘They valued their temporary freedom more than her right to live,’ he said.
Mrs Cherry’s mother Maureen Humphries, 89, said her daughter was the ‘heartbeat of our family she was vibrant and full of life’ and hers was a ‘life discarded by the choices of people who did not care’.
Mr Burrows said the fraud was ‘prolonged and persistent’ and sophisticated as it involved setting up a company and using a bank card machine and different vehicles.
He said: ‘There were four victims and the victims were targeted on the basis specifically of their age.’
The court heard all three have previous convictions. They will be sentenced on Tuesday.
