A professional footballer who k!lled a married cyclist in a crash has been jailed for 14 months.
Mansfield Town striker, Lucas Akins, 36, struck Adrian Daniel, 33, after he failed to see the cyclist as the footballer pulled out of a T-junction after failing to stop at a give-way sign, Mail Online reported.
Prosecutor Carmel Pearson told Leeds Crown Court that Mr Daniel suffered a ‘catastrophic’ head injury when Akins pulled out onto Huddersfield Road, in the village of Netherton, West Yorkshire, on Thursday, March 17, 2022.
The footballer had his then-seven-month-old and seven-year-old children in his Mercedes G350 Station Wagon at the time, as he took the eldest to a piano lesson.
Head-cam footage from Mr. Daniel, who cycled the same route to and from work every day, showed Akins pull out slowly from Crossland Factory Lane onto Huddersfield Road directly into his path, giving the cyclist ‘no time to brake’.
‘Keen cyclist’ Mr. Daniel, a quality controller at a local tech firm, died 10 days later on 27 March, due to the ‘unsafe manouevre’, said Ms Pearson.
Akins, of Thongsbridge, near Holmfirth, pleaded guilty earlier to causing death by careless or inconsiderate driving.
‘Traffic is obliged to give way at Huddersfield Road, which is what the defendant should have done. He intended to turn right into Huddersfield Road,’ she said.
‘The defendant didn’t give way at a give way sign. There is no stop sign or white line at that junction but there is an obligation to give way.’
Father-of-three Akins told police in an interview: ‘Obviously I stopped, looked right, left, right, left – there were no vehicles coming. As I’ve pulled out, I’ve just seen a cyclist.’
In her victim impact statement Mrs. Daniel, who had only wed the victim seven months before the fatal crash, described him as an ‘adrenaline junkie’.
‘We met in August 2019, we were married in August 2021. He became a third-wheel to me and my daughter Evie and he became her dad without obligation to her,’ she told the court.
She described her life since as ‘like hell and a nightmare I’m not waking up from.’
She is undergoing therapy and has had to quit her job as a operating theatre practitioner at Oldham Royal Hospital because she can ‘no longer set foot’ inside one due to her daily visits to her husband in ICU.
Mr Daniel’s father has also died before he could see justice for his son, the court heard.
Mitigating Tim Pole said Akins suffered a ‘momentary lapse in concentration’.
Akins’ employers Mansfield Town had been supportive up until now. Manager Nigel Clough wrote a reference for Akins to the judge.
However, he added: ‘The nature of his employment means that this conviction may make it difficult to continue with his career in the future.’
Jailing him for 14 months and handing him a two year driving ban, Judge Alex Menary said: ‘You failed to see Mr Daniel and you drove into collision with him. The impact was devastating and he was thrown from his bicycle.
‘Had you been keeping a proper lookout for all road users, not just motor vehicles, then this accident would not have occurred.
‘It is plain to me you are someone who is highly unlikely to trouble the courts again,’ judge Alex Menary told the footballer.
‘There is strong personal mitigation here. However, it seems to be the appropriate punishment can only be achieved by immediate custody.’
Mr Daniel’s wife told the court: ‘His wife and children shouldn’t have to live the life we have since that day.
‘We do not need any more lives to be destroyed from this.’
She continued: ‘Adrian survived a terrible accident 11 years ago. I’m not a spiritual person, but I believe he survived that to find us, to show Evie what a dad was and me what true love was.
‘I can say I have learned to live life without him and live it to the full, but that doesn’t excuse Mr Akins’ actions. Three years of hell, of avoidance and adding further to my trauma, has finally come to a close today.’
But she criticised him for failing to plead guilty at an earlier stage.
Tim Pole, defending, told the judge: ‘I want to publicly apologise on his behalf. The fact he caused the death of Mr Daniel continues to dominate his thoughts and it’s a burden he will carry for the rest of his life.’
Mr Pole said his client understood the ‘frustration and anger’ expressed by Mrs Daniels about the time it took him to plead guilty, and said her words to the court ‘had a profound impact on him’.
The barrister said the collision occurred when Akins was having difficulties in his personal life and his marriage had now come to an end, although he continues to co-parent his three young children.
Mr Pole said: ‘He’s fundamentally a decent, honest, and hard-working individual.’
Akins came through the youth academy at Huddersfield Town and made his debut for them in 2007.
His career has since taken him to Northwich Victoria, Hamilton Academical, Partick Thistle, Tranmere Rovers, Stevenage, Burton Albion, and latterly Mansfield, who he joined in January 2022.
He has also made four international appearances for Caribbean nation Grenada.
A spokesperson for Akins’ current club, Mansfield Town, said: ‘Mansfield Town Football Club acknowledges today’s decision by Leeds Crown Court concerning Lucas Akins following a tragic road traffic accident in March 2022.
‘Mansfield Town Football Club offers its sincere and deepest condolences to the family of Adrian Daniel at this difficult time.
‘The club is considering its position with regards to Lucas and will be making no further comment at this stage.’
