A Coventry father is to stand trial next year over the death of his toddler son after his car left the M6 motorway and crashed.
Andrew Fox pleaded not guilty at Warwick Crown Court to causing the death of his young son Freddie Fox in December last year by careless driving.
The charge follows an incident on December 7 when Fox (26) of John McGuire Crescent, Binley, Coventry, was driving north on the M6.
His car crashed after leaving the carriageway at a point between junctions one for Rugby and two for Coventry, with no other vehicles involved.
The emergency services rushed to the scene and 13-month-old Freddie was airlifted to Birmingham Children’s Hospital for emergency treatment, but died from his injuries three days later.
Prosecutor Nicholas Cartwright said there would be three prosecution witnesses in the trial, which is expected to last for three days.
He said the witnesses would be a motorist who was driving behind Fox’s car at the time, an expert who will deal with a collision reconstruction, and another expert dealing with any defects to the vehicle.
Mr Cartwright added the defence would also be calling their own expert to deal with aspects of the case.
Judge Alan Parker said that despite the short time estimate for the trial, because of the volume of work at the court, a fixed date could not be found until early next year.
And he commented that because of the need to provide firm dates for the expert witnesses, it was ‘not an appropriate case’ to go into a warned list – which would have led to it being listed sooner but at short notice.
So he adjourned the case for trial on February 15 next year, subject to the availability of the prosecution experts, and Fox was granted unconditional bail.
Judge Parker apologised to tragic Freddie’s mother Charlotte Joliffe and other family members for the delay.
