Man admits causing death of Olympic cyclist Chris Boardman’s mother

A man has pleaded guilty to causing the death by careless driving of the mother of Olympic cyclist Chris Boardman.

Liam Rosney drove over Carol Boardman after she fell from her bike on a mini-roundabout in Connah’s Quay, North Wales, in 2016.

The 75-year-old suffered multiple injuries after being hit by Rosney’s Mitsibushi pick-up truck.

Ms Boardman’s son Chris won gold at the 1992 Olympics.

In an appearance at Mold Crown Court on Monday, Rosney, 33, denied a more serious charge of causing death by dangerous driving.

Matthew Curtis, prosecuting, said the Crown would not invite a trial over the more serious charge. He said circumstances had been carefully considered with police, family liaison officers and experts.

A previous trial, in July, was postponed after the jury was discharged. A jury sworn in on Monday was discharged after Rosney changed his plea to guilty.

Judge Rhys Rowlands said the guilty plea would attract some credit, but “nowhere near as much” as if it had been made on trial earlier this year.

Sentencing would consider all options including custody, he said.

The prosecution had alleged Rosney was on the phone to his wife before the crash happened, on a hands-free phone, while billing data showed the call ended prior to entry on the roundabout.

“What we will say the case is, then, is that the defendant continued to be distracted by a) the telephone calls which he had been taking, and b) his mobile telephone, which was on the passenger seat inside his vehicle,” Mr Curtis said.

“We know he did not see Mrs Boardman and first realised he may have collided with her when his vehicle was physically riding over Mrs Boardman’s body.”

Rosney and his wife had been charged with perverting the cause of justice over allegations they had deleted call logs from their phones, but the charges were dropped in July.

Writing on social media in 2016, Boardman wrote that his mother was “the most positive, outgoing person you could ever hope to meet”.

“Many of our childhood memories involve my mother and the outdoors, walking out over Hoylake sandbank, swimming in the deep gullies or hunting for fossils on Llandegla Moor in North Wales,” he said.

“Wanting to share her passion for cycling, even well into her 70s, she often took groups of young novices out on their first forays into North Wales.”

(c) Sky News 2018: Man admits causing death of Olympic cyclist Chris Boardman’s mother