A66 crash: Man who attacked celebrant at funeral fails to attend court
District judge issues warrant for arrest of man who attacked celebrant at a funeral
A district judge has issued a warrant for the arrest of a man who attacked a celebrant at the funeral of one of the people who died in a horrific crash on the A66 which killed two police officers and five young people.
Gye Worthy, 40, failed to attend Teesside Magistrates’ Court where he was due to be sentenced for assault, resisting arrest and a separate offence of theft of four bottles of wine from a shop.
Worthy, of Ruskin Avenue, Middlesbrough, had also failed to attend the same court on Monday, where he was due to appear on separate charges.
Deputy District Judge Julia Baggs, sitting at Teesside Magistrates’ Court on Tuesday, agreed to an application by the prosecution for a warrant to be issued, “not backed by bail”.
That meant he would have to be held in custody ahead of a future court date once he has been located.
The court heard that Worthy had not made contact with the court to explain why he had not attended, nor had he been in correspondence with his solicitors.
The deputy district judge said: “In these circumstances, I do accept the application for a warrant not backed by bail.”
Worthy has previously admitted assaulting the celebrant Paul Maull during the funeral service for Cole Worthy, 17, on September 9.
At a hearing last month, he also admitted resisting arrest at the funeral service.
And he also previously admitted stealing four bottles of wine worth £30 from a shop on October 8.
He appeared in court two days after the shoplifting offence and the case was adjourned for a pre-sentence report to be prepared.
The court heard how a warrant had already been issued for his arrest on Monday after he failed to appear then.
Cole Worthy and four friends were killed in a head-on smash with a marked police vehicle in the early hours of August 22 on the A66 at South Bank.
They were in a VW Passat which was pursued by police but the operation was called off when the suspect vehicle went the wrong way down the dual carriageway.
Seconds later it collided head on with a car containing Pc Tom Clough and Pc Matthew Blades.
They were killed at the scene, along with Worthy, Jakub Matusiak, 23, Theo Rae, 17, Makai Saddington, 18, and Michael Cahill, 23.
Trouble was believed to have started earlier that night when a car rammed into Worthy’s family home in Acklam.