A YOUNG motorcyclist was killed when a livestock auctioneer pulled across the road in front of him to turn into the entrance to a farm field.

But auctioneer Martin Lloyd escaped a custodial sentence after finally admitting responsibility for Jay Brownhill’s death in the collision near the Warwickshire village of Stoneleigh.

Lloyd, aged 24, previously of Cowarne Court, Lower Eggleton, Ledbury, had denied a charge of causing death by careless driving – but he changed his plea to guilty at a pre-trial hearing at Warwick Crown Court.

Prosecutor Paul Dhami said that at 1.30pm on October 23, 2018, Lloyd was driving his X-type Jaguar along Stoneleigh Road away from Stoneleigh village.

Heading the opposite way from the direction of the A46 Kenilworth by-pass was 21-year-old Jay Brownhill, from Wednesbury in the Black Country, who was on a black Yamaha with a pillion passenger even though he was disqualified from driving.

Lloyd, who Judge Sylvia de Bertodano observed should have had the Yamaha in view for up to ten seconds, made a right turn across the road into the entrance to a field which had a locked gate.

“The motorcycle and the Jaguar collided, with the bike hitting the front passenger side door,” said Mr Dhami. “The rider was thrown from the motorcycle and made contact with the passenger door and then went onto the roof of the Jaguar and into the road, and died as a result of his injuries.”

Mr Dhami pointed out that Mr Brownhill should not have been on the road because he had been disqualified, the bike’s MoT had expired, its rear number plate had been tampered with, and the tread on one tyre was below the legal limit while the other tyre was under-inflated. But a collision expert did not consider those defects had been a factor in the collision itself.

Sentencing Lloyd, Judge de Bertodano told him: “You were on the Stoneleigh Road when you made a mistake and turned right in front of an oncoming motorcycle. You didn’t see it, and you should have.

“You are a livestock auctioneer, and that requires doing a lot of driving, so this will impact on your career.”

Lloyd was given a 12-month community order with a condition of residence at his current home in Dassett Road, Farnborough, near Banbury, for one week, and banned from driving for a year.