A devoted girlfriend was killed by an out-of-control cyclist as she watched her boyfriend in a downhill mountain bike race, a court heard today.
Judith Garrett, 29, was watching on the sidelines of the race course to cheer her partner when she was hit on the head by the mountain biker – and knocked into a tree during the event near Llangollen in North Wales.
The British Cycling Federation and event staff are being prosecuted over her death which was described as an ‘entirely avoidable accident’.
A devoted girlfriend was killed by an out-of-control cyclist as she watched her boyfriend in a downhill mountain bike race, a court heard today
Judith suffered a ‘major traumatic head injury’ in the accident while waiting to see her boyfriend Peter Walton take on the fierce twisting and turning downhill race track.
Prosecutor James Hill QC said: ‘A healthy young woman lost her life doing no more than watching a sporting event.’
Judith, of Prudhoe, Northumberland, died the next day from her injuries.
Event staff and the British Cycling Federation have denied health and safety charges.
Event organiser Michael Marsden, 40, of Lancaster, pleads not guilty to failing to conduct the event on 31 August 2014 in a manner in which spectators weren’t exposed to risks.
He also denies failing to make a sufficient risk assessment. The prosecution claimed the event was ‘poorly run.’
Judith Garrett, 29, was watching on the sidelines of the race course to cheer her boyfriend Peter Walton (pictured together) when she was hit on the head by the mountain biker – and knocked into a tree during the event near Llangollen in North Wales
Judith suffered a ‘major traumatic head injury’ in the accident while waiting to see her boyfriend Peter Walton take on the fierce twisting and turning downhill race track
Kevin Duckworth, 41, of Accrington, Lancashire, allegedly a race marshal who was snoozing on a crash mat, denies failing to take reasonable care to ensure the health and safety of people at the event.
Mr Hill said the event was well known as being one of the most challenging downhill mountain bike courses in the UK.
But he said Mr Marsden had failed to carry out a proper risk assessment and had given ‘little or no thought’ to the dangers.
He told Mold Crown Court that if attention to detail and thought had been applied, it would have led them to decide the area where the accident happened should have been a ‘no-go area’ and ‘an obvious place that cyclists would lose control’.
‘The area should have been taped off,’ he added.
Ms Garrett, who was standing near a series of jumps towards the end of the course, was hit and knocked backwards by a rider who lost control of his bike and was propelled towards her at speed.
Judith, of Prudhoe, Northumberland, died the next day from her injuries
She hit her head on a tree and suffered a fractured skull and a haemorrhage.
Despite the efforts of paramedics and doctors at a specialist unit at Stoke-on-Trent, where she was airlifted, she died the following day.
The court heard a health and safety investigation was started by Denbighshire council and a number of independent experts were brought in to assist with the inquiry.
One of the most worrying discoveries, Mr Hill said, was though Michael Marsden had worked at the course before and knew it well, the risk assessment for the event was ‘wholly inadequate’.
Judith had been due to move into her first house with Mr Walton in just two weeks and had recently been promoted at work where she was a senior quality control officer.
The trial continues and is expected to last a month.
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