Police officer father of driver accused of killing Carol Boardman intervened in investigation, court told

A senior police officer whose son is on trial for causing the death by dangerous driving of Carol Boardman attempted to prevent officers from interviewing his daughter-in-law about the fatal crash, a court has been told.

Mrs Boardman, the mother of world and Olympic champion turned cycling campaigner Chris Boardman, died in July 2016 from injuries sustained when she was struck by a pick-up truck driven by Liam Rosney, 32, in Connah’s Quay, North Wales.

Besides the causing death by dangerous driving charge, which he denies, Rosney and his wife Victoria, also 32, have been charged with perverting the course of justice due to deleting records on their mobile phones.

On Monday, Mold Crown Court was told that the pair exchanged several phone calls in the run-up to the fatal crash, the last one terminated an estimated four seconds before the collision.

Giving evidence yesterday, Detective Sergeant Laura Griffiths of North Wales Police said that on 22 November 2017 she went and two fellow officers went to the Rosneys’ home with the intention of taking Mrs Rosney’s mobile phone, the Liverpool Echo reports.

No-one was in, so DS Griffiths phoned Mrs Rosney who told her she was at work and would need to ask permission to return home.

Around 10 minutes later, the police officers received a phone call from Peter Rosney, Liam Rosney’s father.

Defence counsel Mark Rhind, representing Mrs Rosney, asked DS Griffiths if she was aware that Peter Rosney was a senior officer with North Wales Police.

"I'm aware he is a police officer, yes," she replied. She told the court that in the phone call, he told her what he believed she and the other officers could and could not do.

Mr Rhind asked her: "He was clearly of the view you could not go to her place of work?"

She said: "That's what he said to us."

One of the other officers, Police Constable Arwyn Phillips, said in a statement: "I do recall her, DC Griffiths, stating he, Mr Peter Rosney, had told her we were not to turn up at her workplace."

Mrs Rosney failed to call the officers back, so they went to the offices where she worked and eventually managed to speak to her.

She claimed her phone was on her desk but when it could not be found there, told police that a colleague had it.

One of her co-workers told the court that Mrs Rosney had given her the phone before meeting police, but denied she was hiding it for her.

Both defendants have pleaded not guilty to the charges against them, with the trial expected to last until the end of the week.

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