Drunken Leeds father ‘did not look back’ and staggered away as 12-year-old son was killed on M62

Matthew Rycroft from Harehills flipped his Audi Q5 courtesy car on the busy motorway then attempted to cross the live lanes with his 12-year-old son, who was fatally struck by a passing car.

Rycroft was jailed at Leeds Crown Court today for 10 years after admitting the manslaughter of young Callum Rycroft. He also admitted dangerous driving and refusing to provide a sample for alcohol analysis.

He has a long history of driving offences, with more than a dozen convictions for driving while banned.

The judge, the Recorder of Leeds Guy Kearl KC told 37-year-old Rycroft: “You were responsible for Callum and responsible for his death. He had no chance of survival. When he did not make it (across the motorway), you left him.

"You were there to look after him, to keep him safe and away from danger. You did the opposite. You placed him in danger of extreme harm that was so obvious.”

The court heard that Callum, who had “worshipped the ground his father walked on”, died instantly after being struck by the vehicle at 9.47pm on August 5.

Matthew Rycroft, of Nowell View, had visited his parents in Huddersfield with Callum that day and had been drinking heavily at a cricket club. He was seen to down pints of lager, along with shots of spirits and was “hardly able to talk and was slurring” by the time he left, prosecutor Michael Smith told the court.

Rycroft’s parents urged him not to drive and offered him a place to stay overnight, but he refused and drove away.

His parents called him and urged him to stop driving and Callum was heard in the background saying: “Dad won’t stop.” They also tried to follow him, but Rycroft ignored them, and he was seen driving erratically in Huddersfield, before joining the M62 at J25.

Witnesses reported seeing Rycroft swerve across lanes on the motorway before colliding with a crash barrier. Rycroft then managed to exit the motorway towards Hartshead Moor Services, where he failed to negotiate a sharp bend on the slip road, hitting the kerb and overturning the car.

Rycroft and Callum then began to walk towards the main carriageway. Footage played to the court showed the pair walking along the hard-shoulder for almost three-quarters of a mile.

Callum called his mother and dialled 999, but Rycroft told him to end the call. They were seen to cross the lanes to the central reservation, with Callum helping his drunken dad. Then, for an unknown reason, tried to cross back.

Callum was struck by the oncoming vehicle. His father never looked back to check on him and walked away, footage showed. Police arrested him a short time later and thought he had been hiding in a bush away from the scene.

Mitigating for Rycroft, Matthew Holding said: “He will have to live with the utterly tragic consequences of that night for the rest of his life. He seeks no pity, but it’s a punishment in excess of anything that can be imposed.”

He must serve at least two-thirds of the sentence, and was banned from driving for more than nine years.