Jaime Hamilton gave the defense closing in Simon Richardson's trial over Michael Mullins's death.

Tuesday's speech is the defense argument. The Daily Mail's account is the prosecution opening from Oct. 13. The jury had not returned a verdict in either story. The two accounts do not use the same distance for how far Mullins was dragged, and the BBC places a separate dangerous-driving count on April 21.

The BBC reported that on Tuesday, Oct. 27, 2026, Jaime Hamilton KC gave the defense closing speech at Manchester Minshull Street Crown Court in the trial of Simon Richardson, 35, who is accused of the murder of headteacher Michael Mullins, 56. The BBC reported Mullins was knocked off his bike while travelling home from Stretford Grammar School in Manchester. It reported prosecutors say Richardson knew Mullins was underneath the car shortly after the collision and drove on anyway, which he denies. It reported Mullins became entangled in the suspension of Richardson's Volvo XC90 and was dragged 2.2 kilometres, which the BBC also gave as 1.4 miles, after the collision in Warburton, near Altrincham, on April 20. It reported Richardson drove through Give Way markings at a junction and collided with Mullins, who went under the vehicle. It reported a motorcyclist followed a trail of blood and found Mullins alone and barely breathing on a grass verge in a country lane in Lymm, Cheshire, and that he was pronounced dead at the scene shortly afterwards.

The BBC reported Hamilton told the jurors, "You are likely to hold Simon Richardson in contempt. That contempt may well manifest itself in a loathing of Simon Richardson and, in fairness, you are probably right to. Because it is right that we acknowledge it was the actions of Simon Richardson that led to the death of Michael Mullins. Not only is he responsible for the death of Michael Mullins, he acted in the most selfish of ways with one thought in his mind – himself. But that does not make him guilty of the homicide offences on this indictment." It reported Hamilton said the prosecution had made a conscious decision to limit the jury's choices to murder, manslaughter, or "not responsible at all," rather than putting offences of causing death by dangerous or careless driving on the indictment. A closing speech is argument. It is not a verdict.

The BBC reported it is alleged Richardson stopped on the country lane and twice got out of the vehicle to try to pull Mullins free, which he denies, and that he then mounted a grass verge, dislodged Mullins, and reversed over him, causing "crushing" injuries to his chest. It reported the defendant's cousin, front-seat passenger Gabrielle Debotte, had told the court that both of them heard moaning shortly after the collision in Paddock Lane and that Richardson said, "He is under the car." It reported Hamilton said Debotte had changed her accounts of the journey in statements to police and in evidence, and that he asked the jury whether she was an honest, accurate, and reliable witness. It reported he said, "We say she is a narrator prepared to say whatever it takes to remove her further away from any sort of responsibility, and as a consequence to shift Simon Richardson ever closer to whatever suits her at the moment." It reported he said the prosecution had been "blind to the distinct possibility" that Mullins was run over by one of the front wheels in the first moments of the collision. Those are the defense arguments about her evidence. They are not a finding about what she heard.

The BBC reported the jury was told that a murder conviction requires them to be sure that, for at least part of the time from when Mullins was dragged under the car until he was left on the grass verge, Richardson intended to kill him or to cause him serious harm, and that trial judge Mrs Justice Brunner said they must also be certain the injuries in that period were more than a minimal contribution to the death. It reported that on the manslaughter count she said jurors must be sure Richardson assaulted Mullins and that the assault, again, was more than a minimal contribution to the death. It reported the defense argument is that there was no assault because Richardson did not realise Mullins was under the car, or that he possibly might have been. It reported Richardson denies murder, manslaughter, and a separate allegation of dangerous driving on April 21 after a police pursuit, before he was arrested. April 21 is the day after the collision date both accounts use.

The Daily Mail, in a story published Oct. 13, 2026, reported the prosecution opening. It reported Phil Barnes KC told the jury Mullins, head of Stretford Grammar School for 17 years, was cycling the 19-mile journey home to Weaverham, near Northwich, Cheshire, when he was struck shortly after 6 p.m. in Altrincham by Richardson's black Volvo XC90. It reported Richardson failed to stop at a junction, drove through give way signs, and struck Mullins from the left. It reported Barnes said Mullins was then "crushed to death" after being dragged more than a mile and a quarter, and that "for a significant proportion of that journey, Simon Richardson knew that Michael Mullins was there beneath his car - trapped and injured, but alive." It reported Barnes said, "He knew what he was doing by driving off would kill Michael Mullins or cause him the gravest of injuries and yet he drove on anyway." It reported the prosecution said Richardson left at more than 60 mph, twice a 30 mph limit, after Mullins's foot became trapped under the front wheels. It reported a stop of around 90 seconds on a quiet country road, that data from Mullins's watch showed he was still alive, and that Barnes called the stop an effort to leave him at the side of the road "to die if that's what it came to," with Richardson turning the steering wheel and then getting back in the driver's seat. Later in the same story the Mail reported Barnes said Mullins was dragged for over four minutes, a distance of more than a mile and a third, and that an open side window meant Richardson would have heard everything. It reported Mullins died from multiple injuries caused by being dragged, rather than from the original collision, and was declared dead 40 minutes after the collision. The BBC's 2.2 kilometres, the Mail's mile and a quarter, and the Mail's mile and a third are three distances. The BBC's "shortly afterwards" and the Mail's 40 minutes are two accounts of when he was pronounced dead. The BBC says Richardson twice got out. The Mail's opening says he turned the steering wheel and got back in the driver's seat.

The Daily Mail reported that after the collision Richardson drove to a petrol station, where Debotte, who had been in the front seat, could be seen with her head in her hands, and that he then collected weight-loss medication from a clinic in the village before driving to her house. It reported he swapped the Volvo for a silver van and allegedly tried to concoct a story, and that Debotte, who the Oct. 13 story said was due to give evidence for the prosecution, broke down the next day at the nursery where she worked and went to the police. It reported he was later arrested after police pursued a Ford Transit van he had acquired, allegedly driving dangerously and at speed, and that in interview he declined to answer questions. It reported he is of no fixed address and denies alternate charges of murder and manslaughter as well as dangerous driving. The Oct. 13 story said the trial was due to last five weeks. The BBC's Tuesday story reported Debotte had already testified. A silver van and a Ford Transit are both in the Mail. The BBC puts the dangerous-driving allegation on April 21, after a pursuit. The collision, in both accounts, is April 20. All defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.