Dartford crash couple will face manslaughter charge

A couple who run a Northamptonshire outside catering firm will be tried for manslaughter before a High Court judge in Maidstone in October. The charges, to which both have pleaded not guilty, follow a road crash that involved one of the company's vehicles and in which an 11-year-old girl guide was killed.

It is only the second time that someone in the UK has been charged with manslaughter arising from a traffic accident. Matilda Morgan, 42, from Blackwell Hill, West Hunsbury, Northamptonshire, was the owner of the lorry, which hit the back of a car waiting to go through the toll booths on the Kent side of the Dartford Tunnel.

Michelle Shields, from Cliffe Woods, near Rochester, Kent, was sitting in the car, which ended up under the lorry.

Ms Morgan runs Northamptonshire-based SCM Caterers, with business partner and common law husband Brian Nobes, 62.

It is alleged they committed manslaughter by acts amounting to gross negligence. The prosecution will argue that they did not exercise their duty of care to set up a proper system of maintenance and inspection of vehicles.

Neither were driving the lorry when the accident happened in August last year.

Ms Morgan and Mr Nobes were released on unconditional bail.