Demo death driver may face charges
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by Stewart Whittingham
• The trucker driver who ran over and killed animal rights protester Jill Phipps last February could face criminal charges as well as charges for six minor traffic offences, an inquest was told last week.
Inspector John Williams of Warwickshire police revealed the traffic offence charges on the fourth day of the inquest into the death of Phipps, who was crushed under the wheels of a Scania during a demonstration at Coventry Airport. Williams told the jury that driver Stephen Yates, a partner in the truck operator M Yates Haulage, faced no charges over the death of 31-year-old Phipps. However Yates' solicitor, Trevor Cox, told the inquest that his client could still be prosecuted.
"The decision not to prosecute Mr Yates is not irreversible and there is nothing to stop a private prosecution being taken out against him," he said. Yates does face a number of traffic charges, according to Williams, including one of tampering with equipment to conceal the number of hours he had driven.
Before Yates gave evidence coroner David Sarginson warned the driver that he did not have to answer any questions if they felt they might incriminate him.
But Yates went on to describe how the police told him they would "see to everything" during the protest and that he was to follow their vehicle as closely as he could.
He said he was using his rearview mirror to watch a protester trying to chain herself to the back of his truck when police told him to stop. They then told him lie had run over a protester.
The inquest is expected to end this week.