Children Died In Car With 'Incompetent' Modifications

A Lincolnshire father who crashed his Land Rover into a river, killing four of his seven children, has gone on trial today.

Nigel Gresham, 37, from Chapel Hill in Lincolnshire, appeared at Lincoln Crown Court today causing the deaths of Willow, two, Angel, four, Thor, six and eight-year-old Keavy on September 16, last year.

He has pleaded not guilty to causing the deaths by dangerous driving.

The charges relate to an the incident in 2007, when the Land Rover careered into the River Witham, at Tattershall Brideg, near Coningsby.

The court heard Mr Gresham had carried out a number of "ill-judged" and "incompetent" modifications to the vehicle in the four years he had owned it.

Timothy Spencer QC, prosecuting, said: "It was a vehicle he had owned for about four years and he had carried out a number of modification. His major pastime was driving it off-road and it may be that a number of the modifications were intended to assist him with that.

"Sadly they didn't assist him with driving on-road."

Mr Spencer continued: "A number of the modifications were ill-judged, many were incompetently carried out and he also failed to carry out a number of repairs.

"All that rendered this vehicle dangerous and unroadworthy."

The jury was also shown a DVD of road tests carried out on the Land Rover at RAF Scampton.

Mr Spencer said the calliper on the offside front brake was bigger than the one on the nearside front brake and this caused the car to slew when the car hit the brakes.

He also said the brake pedal was worn and it took "excessive travel" when the driver hit the brakes, for it to stop.

He said: "Sometimes, the vehicle would stop straight, but, other times, it would lock and grab erratically."

Other drivers said they saw the Land Rover speed past them before the crash.

Mr Spencer said: "Having passed a Clio in front of him, it then swerved towards its offside towards the river and rolled over, tumbling down the bank into the Witham.

"Some of the occupants, including Mr Gresham the driver, got themselves out of the vehicle.

"Eventually all of the occupants were pulled out but in the case of four of them, sadly it was too late."

It is estimated the vehicle had been travelling at between 50 and 60mph.

The case continues.

(JM)