A 22-year-old from Great Boughton is standing trial accused of causing the fatal crash which killed his 19-year-old girlfriend two years ago.

Claudia Williams, from Hoole, died when the Vauxhall Corsa Richard Bromley was driving collided with a tree on School Lane in Guilden Sutton on June 24, 2013.

Bromley, of Daniel Way, denies two charges of causing death by dangerous driving and causing death by careless driving while under the influence of drink or drugs.

Prosecution witness Lauren Edge told a Chester Crown Court jury today (September 24) that Bromley told her he had ‘f***** up’ as they waited for the emergency services to arrive following the collision, which occurred at around 9.40pm.

Recalling the events of June 24, 2013, Miss Edge told the jury of nine men and three women that she had been in her bedroom at her parents’ home on School Lane when she heard her dad rushing up the stairs, ‘quite panicked’ and saying ‘it is going to blow’.

Following him outside and towards the road, she said saw a stationary car lying across both lanes.

School Lane in Guilden Sutton. Picture courtesy of Google
School Lane in Guilden Sutton. Picture courtesy of Google

Miss Edge said she saw the defendant, who she recognised as the friend of a friend she had known since her teenage years, lying on the road on the driver’s side of the car.

She said she, her parents and her partner only realised that there was a passenger – Miss Williams – still in the car when Bromley asked them where his girlfriend was.

While her mum, a nurse, tended to former Christleton High School pupil Miss Williams, Miss Edge stayed with Bromley.

Miss Edge described Bromley as being ‘distressed’ – trying to get up and continuously asking where and how Miss Williams – who Miss Edge went to primary school with – was.

The couple had been arguing

Miss Edge said that while they waited for an ambulance, she asked Bromley how he had managed to crash seeing as the road was straight, to which he replied that the couple had been arguing.

She told the court that Bromley said to her: “Lauren, I have f***** up.”

But she explained that she did not press Bromley for any ‘clarity’ on what he meant, as it seemed to her a ‘perfectly reasonable thing to say when you have an accident’.

She added: “It did not seem at the time anything untoward given what had just happened.”

Defence counsel Phillip Lucas, during cross-examination, told her that Bromley does not remember saying that to her.

Mr Lucas put it to Miss Edge that her recollections of the aftermath of the collision were likely to be ‘rather sketchy’, given that she only gave her statement to the police on Sunday (September 20, 2015).

Miss Edge responded: “What is in my statement is the truth as I know it. In such a shocking incident, those words have stuck with me. I am certain that what I said was said was said.”

She explained that she did not make a statement when the police visited her around one year after the collision because she felt that she had nothing to add at that time.

Miss Edge admitted that she texted Bromley to let him know that she intended to make a statement and that it was ‘not anything to worry about’.

She said: “I wanted to let him know that I am not choosing sides.

“I am just here to tell the truth and what I can remember.”

The court heard that Bromley responded to Miss Edge saying she should just tell the truth.

Blood sample evidence

Dr Mark Piper, a toxicology manager at Randox Testing Services and expert witness for the prosecution, gave evidence about the blood sample taken from Bromley at 12.06am on June 25, 2013, almost two and a half hours following the crash.

He said that their analysis of Bromley’s sample found that the level of alcohol in his blood was ‘not less than 111mg of alcohol to 100ml of blood’ – the legal limit in England and Wales is 80mg of alcohol for every 100ml of blood.

Dr Piper’s evidence was subjected to robust cross-examination by Mr Lucas.

Bromley’s blood sample tested negative for standard drugs.

The trial continues.