DRIVER CLEARED IN BRITISH CHILD DEATH

A Palma judge yesterday absolved the case against a coach driver who was accused of being responsible for the death of a three-year-old British boy, who was run over and killed in Magaluf just over one year ago. The accident happened on January 25 in a private car park at a Magaluf hotel. According to the court the child, Samuel Jordan Sockett, appeared in the road, in the path of the coach, without warning and from behind a parked vehicle. The three-year-old was knocked down and run over by the front wheel of the coach and died at the scene. According to the judge's ruling the child was wandering free “unaccompanied by an adult” while his family were following some metres behind. The driver of the coach, who underwent an alcohol test at the scene which resulted negative, was tried for dangerous driving, with the family asking for compensation of more than eleven million pesetas which was to be paid to the mother, her brother and grandparents. The coach driver's insurance company was in the process of liquidation at the time and the claim was passed on to the Insurance Consortium which contested the claim in court and won. The Palma judge reached the conclusion that the driver could have done nothing to avoid the child, who moved into the road quickly. The driver stated that the boy came out from between two parked cars, straight in front of his coach and two eyewitness, both of whom were on the coach, said the same in their statements. One said that the child was between the two cars being sick, before suddenly appearing in the road.