Driver Guilty of Murdering Headteacher Michael Mullins

# DHF-023 — Driver Guilty of Murdering Headteacher Michael Mullins

**Case No. DHF-023 | Subject: Michael Mullins | Date: 20 April 2026 (death); 30 October 2026 (murder conviction) | Location: Warburton Lane, Altrincham, and Wet Gate Lane, Lymm, Greater Manchester, England, UK | Status: CONVICTED**

**Posted:** 31 October 2026

**Status stamp: CONVICTED**

> **Image note for readers:** All images in this file are original illustrations created for Dark History Files. They are atmospheric artwork, not photographs and not real evidence. No image in this file depicts Michael Mullins, Simon Richardson, any member of any family, or any real person, and no image depicts any act of violence or any death.

*Caption: Case card for DHF-023 — headteacher murder, Greater Manchester. Status: CONVICTED.*

## THE FILE CARD

| **Case File No.** | DHF-023 |

| --- | --- |

| **Subject** | Michael Mullins, 56, headteacher of Stretford Grammar School, Trafford, Greater Manchester, England, UK |

| **Date** | 20 April 2026 (death); 30 October 2026 (murder conviction at Manchester Minshull Street Crown Court); sentencing scheduled for 2 November 2026 |

| **Location** | Warburton Lane, Altrincham, and Wet Gate Lane, Lymm, Greater Manchester, England, UK |

| **Status** | CONVICTED |

| **Prosecuting authority** | Crown Prosecution Service (CPS), North West |

| **Court** | Manchester Minshull Street Crown Court |

| **Conviction** | Simon Richardson, 35, found guilty of murder on 30 October 2026, and found guilty of dangerous driving on 21 April 2026. A manslaughter count was an alternative charge, so no separate verdict on it was needed. |

| **Sentence so far** | None yet imposed in the sources relied on here. Sentencing is scheduled for Monday 2 November 2026. This file records no sentence figure. |

| **Defence position at trial** | Richardson pleaded not guilty to murder, manslaughter and dangerous driving, denied knowing Mr Mullins was under the car, and did not take the stand. The jury rejected that account. |

| **Motive** | No motive beyond the prosecution's court case is stated in this file. The prosecution's case was about Richardson's conduct after the collision — knowing Mr Mullins was trapped and driving on — not about a reason for the original collision. |

| **One-line summary** | Michael Mullins, 56, headteacher of Stretford Grammar School, was cycling home on the evening of 20 April 2026 when he was struck by a car driven by Simon Richardson, 35, on Warburton Lane in Altrincham; Mr Mullins became trapped beneath the car, and Richardson drove on for 2.2 kilometres before Mr Mullins was freed on Wet Gate Lane in Lymm and pronounced dead at the scene; on 30 October 2026, after a two-week trial at Manchester Minshull Street Crown Court, a jury found Richardson guilty of murder. |

> **Why this file is stamped CONVICTED:** The stamp records only the legal position as it stands on 30 October 2026. A jury has found Simon Richardson guilty of murder, and he has also been found guilty of dangerous driving. He has not yet been sentenced in the sources relied on here, and this file invents no sentence. If sentencing on 2 November 2026, or any later appeal, changes the legal position, this file will be updated, dated, and re-stamped to match the court record — never quietly rewritten.

## THE CASE

### An ordinary ride home

Shortly after 6 p.m. on Monday 20 April 2026, Michael Mullins was cycling home from Stretford Grammar School in Trafford, where he was the headteacher. He was 56, and by every account in the reporting of the trial that followed, he was a man whose working life was spent in a school community: the Crown Prosecution Service, in its statement after the verdict, spoke of the family, the school community and the pupils he taught, and said no verdict could bring him back or ease their pain. This file does not add a biography that the sources do not supply. It records what matters to the case: that on an April evening, a headteacher was riding his bicycle home along Warburton Lane in Altrincham, in Greater Manchester, and that he did not arrive home.

As he rode along Warburton Lane, Simon Richardson, 35, drove straight through a junction and crashed into Mr Mullins, knocking him off his bicycle. Richardson failed to stop, and Mr Mullins was trapped beneath the Volvo. That sentence, in the CPS account, is where an ordinary road collision becomes this case. The prosecution's case, as the CPS set it out after the verdict, was never that the collision itself, in isolation, was murder. It was that Richardson knew Mr Mullins was trapped beneath his car and carried on driving anyway, and that in doing so he intended either to kill him or to cause him really serious harm. Everything that follows in this file is the evidence the jury heard for that proposition, and the defence's answer to it.

### The 2.2 kilometres

Richardson drove for 2.2 kilometres, at times reaching twice the speed limit, before Mr Mullins became free on Wet Gate Lane in Lymm. Cameras recorded the journey towards Wet Gate Lane. During it, Richardson stopped for two minutes, got out, and tried to pull Mr Mullins from beneath the car. When that failed, he continued along Wet Gate Lane, knowing, in the CPS account, that Mr Mullins was still alive beneath the car. He veered from side to side and mounted the grass verge, where Mr Mullins finally was freed. Richardson then drove away.

Mr Mullins was pronounced dead at the scene. A post-mortem examination confirmed, in the CPS account, that he died from injuries sustained while he was beneath the car, rather than from the initial collision. This file states that finding in those words and no more detail, because the detail of a person's injuries is not needed to understand what a jury decided, and because a case file about a man who was a headteacher, a husband and a father should not linger on the manner of his death beyond what the court record requires.

Court reporting of the trial adds two points that belong in this file with their attribution intact. First, the passenger in Richardson's car, Gabrielle Debotte, told the jury that Richardson had said "he's under the car" and that both of them could hear moaning from beneath the vehicle. The prosecution, led by Phil Barnes KC, relied on that evidence, together with camera footage, to argue that it would have been obvious to Richardson that Mr Mullins was trapped and that driving on would cause really serious harm or death. Second, the defence answer, put by Jaime Hamilton, was that Richardson did not know Mr Mullins was under the car until after he was freed on the verge on Wet Gate Lane, and Richardson did not take the stand. The jury, sent out to deliberate on the Wednesday of the trial's second week, returned after around ten hours and fifty-five minutes with a unanimous verdict of guilty. The jury's verdict is the answer to the dispute between those two accounts, and this file reports it as such: the defence said Richardson did not know; the jury found that he did.

One further point from the court reporting deserves a plain, attributed note, because it shows the jury's verdict was not reached on a single fact. The Bury Times, reporting the trial, records that after leaving the scene Richardson went on into Lymm, stopped for petrol and at a salon for his passenger, and later that evening swapped his Volvo for a friend's silver van, with several journeys made to and from his cousin's home through the night. The CPS account, in shorter form, says the same in substance: Richardson dropped off his passenger and arranged to swap his Volvo for a friend's silver van, and then tried to concoct a false account with his passenger and the van's owner. The following day, his passenger told police what had happened. On 21 April, officers attempted to stop Richardson as he drove the van in Failsworth. He tried to evade them, driving dangerously, but was stopped and arrested. He made no comment during his police interview. Court reporting puts his arrest at 11 a.m. on 21 April. The dangerous-driving conviction that followed relates to that 21 April evasion, not to the 20 April collision itself, and this file keeps the two charges distinct for that reason.

### Why murder, and why this conviction is unusual

The CPS was explicit about why it pursued murder rather than causing death by dangerous driving. Rebecca Macaulay-Addison, Specialist Prosecutor for the CPS in the North West, said: "Richardson carried on driving after hitting Mr Mullins with his car and did so knowing Mr Mullins was trapped beneath his car. His decision to continue driving, knowing death or really serious injury was virtually foreseeable, led us to pursue a conviction of murder rather than causing death by dangerous driving." She added: "Michael Mullins should still be here with his family. Simon Richardson's actions have robbed them of a future together." And: "No verdict can bring Mr Mullins back or ease the pain of his family, the Stretford Grammar School community and the pupils he taught. My thoughts remain with them all as they come to terms with his loss."

That reasoning is the legal heart of the case, and it is worth stating slowly, because it is what separates this conviction from the outcome most road deaths receive. In English law, to prove murder the prosecution had to establish that Richardson killed Mr Mullins and, at the time of the killing, intended either to kill him or to cause him really serious harm. A driver who kills someone in a collision is ordinarily charged with a driving offence, not murder, because the ordinary case lacks that intent. Here, the prosecution argued, the intent was supplied by what Richardson did after the collision: he knew a man was trapped beneath his car, he tried and failed to free him, and he drove on regardless. The CPS describes the conviction as one of the first murder convictions arising following a road traffic collision. This file repeats that description as the CPS's own assessment — "one of the first", not the first — because a claim of that kind needs its source attached, and because the distinction matters: the case is unusual, but this file does not overstate how unusual.

It is equally important to say what this conviction does not decide. It does not decide why Richardson drove through the junction in the first place, and no motive for the original collision is stated in the sources relied on here. It does not decide anything about Mr Mullins beyond the facts of that evening's ride home. And it does not, yet, decide Richardson's sentence. Court reporting records that he will be sentenced on Monday 2 November 2026, and that the judge told the court murder carries a mandatory life sentence. This file records the sentencing date as scheduled, and records no sentence, because none has been imposed yet in the sources relied on here. A reader who opens this file after 2 November should expect an update with the sentence as imposed, dated and sourced — and that update, when it comes, will be added as a dated update, not written over the verdict account.

What the record does support, without overreaching, is this: Michael Mullins, 56, headteacher of Stretford Grammar School, was cycling home shortly after 6 p.m. on 20 April 2026 when Simon Richardson, 35, drove through a junction on Warburton Lane in Altrincham and struck him, knocking him from his bicycle. Mr Mullins became trapped beneath the Volvo. Richardson drove on for 2.2 kilometres, stopped for two minutes and tried unsuccessfully to pull Mr Mullins free, then continued to Wet Gate Lane in Lymm, where Mr Mullins was freed and pronounced dead at the scene. Richardson swapped his Volvo for a friend's van, and was stopped and arrested on 21 April after trying to evade officers. After a two-week trial at Manchester Minshull Street Crown Court, in which he pleaded not guilty and did not take the stand, a jury found him guilty of murder on 30 October 2026, and also found him guilty of dangerous driving on 21 April 2026. Sentencing is scheduled for 2 November 2026. That is the file as it stands on 30 October 2026.

## TIMELINE

- **Monday 20 April 2026 (shortly after 6 p.m.)** — Michael Mullins, 56, headteacher of Stretford Grammar School, cycles home along Warburton Lane in Altrincham. Simon Richardson, 35, drives through a junction and strikes him, knocking him from his bicycle. Mr Mullins becomes trapped beneath the Volvo.

- **Monday 20 April 2026 (evening)** — Richardson drives 2.2 kilometres, at times at twice the speed limit, stops for two minutes and tries unsuccessfully to pull Mr Mullins from beneath the car, then continues to Wet Gate Lane in Lymm, where Mr Mullins is freed. Mr Mullins is pronounced dead at the scene. Richardson drives away, drops off his passenger, and arranges to swap his Volvo for a friend's silver van.

- **Tuesday 21 April 2026** — Richardson's passenger tells police what happened. Officers attempt to stop Richardson driving the van in Failsworth; he tries to evade them, driving dangerously, but is stopped and arrested (court reporting puts the arrest at 11 a.m.). He makes no comment in police interview.

- **October 2026 (two weeks)** — Trial at Manchester Minshull Street Crown Court. The court hears eyewitnesses, experts, camera footage, and the passenger's evidence. Richardson pleads not guilty to murder, manslaughter and dangerous driving, and does not take the stand. The defence says he did not know Mr Mullins was under the car until after he was freed.

- **Wednesday of the trial's second week** — The jury is sent out to deliberate.

- **Friday 30 October 2026** — After around ten hours and fifty-five minutes, the jury returns a unanimous verdict of guilty of murder. Richardson is also found guilty of dangerous driving on 21 April 2026. The manslaughter count, an alternative charge, needs no separate verdict. The CPS issues its statement, including Specialist Prosecutor Rebecca Macaulay-Addison's account of why murder, not causing death by dangerous driving, was pursued. This file is published.

- **Monday 2 November 2026 (scheduled)** — Sentencing. No sentence is recorded in this file yet.

## EVIDENCE & LEADS

- **The collision and the drive (CPS, 30 October 2026):** shortly after 6 p.m. on 20 April 2026, Mr Mullins was cycling home from Stretford Grammar School in Trafford; on Warburton Lane in Altrincham, Richardson drove straight through a junction and crashed into him, knocking him off his bicycle; Richardson failed to stop and Mr Mullins was trapped beneath the Volvo; Richardson drove 2.2 kilometres, at times at twice the speed limit, before Mr Mullins became free on Wet Gate Lane in Lymm.

- **The stop and the verge (CPS, 30 October 2026):** cameras recorded the journey towards Wet Gate Lane; during it, Richardson stopped for two minutes, got out and tried to pull Mr Mullins from beneath the car; when this failed, he continued along Wet Gate Lane, knowing Mr Mullins was still alive beneath the car; he veered from side to side and mounted the grass verge, where Mr Mullins finally was freed; Richardson then drove away.

- **The death (CPS, 30 October 2026):** Mr Mullins was pronounced dead at the scene; a post-mortem examination confirmed he died from injuries sustained while beneath the car, rather than from the initial collision. No further injury detail is stated in this file.

- **The prosecution's case (CPS, 30 October 2026):** Richardson knew he had struck Mr Mullins and continued driving despite knowing he was trapped; to prove murder, the prosecution had to establish intent to kill or to cause really serious harm; witnesses saw the collision and Richardson driving away at speed, including the passenger in the car; camera evidence was presented to show it would have been obvious that Mr Mullins was trapped and that driving on would cause really serious harm or death; his attempts to dislodge Mr Mullins proved he knew the harm he was doing and yet drove on.

- **The passenger's evidence (court reporting, Bury Times, 30 October 2026):** passenger Gabrielle Debotte told the jury Richardson said "he's under the car" and that both could hear moaning from under the vehicle; she said he got out on Wet Gate Lane and tried twice, unsuccessfully, to pull Mr Mullins out. Reported as trial evidence, not as a finding independent of the verdict.

- **The defence case (court reporting, Bury Times, 30 October 2026):** Richardson denied murder, manslaughter and dangerous driving; defending, Jaime Hamilton stated he did not know Mr Mullins was under the car until after he was freed on the verge; Richardson did not take the stand. The jury rejected that account.

- **The verdict (CPS + court reporting, 30 October 2026):** after a two-week trial at Manchester Minshull Street Crown Court, the jury, sent out on the Wednesday and deliberating around ten hours and fifty-five minutes, returned a unanimous verdict of guilty of murder; Richardson was also found guilty of dangerous driving on 21 April 2026; the manslaughter count was an alternative charge, so no verdict on it was needed.

- **After the collision (CPS, 30 October 2026):** Richardson dropped off his passenger and arranged to swap his Volvo for a friend's silver van, then tried to concoct a false account with his passenger and the van's owner; the following day, his passenger told police what had happened; on 21 April, officers attempted to stop Richardson driving the van in Failsworth, he tried to evade them driving dangerously, but was stopped and arrested; he made no comment in police interview. Court reporting puts the arrest at 11 a.m. on 21 April.

- **The CPS statement (CPS, 30 October 2026):** Specialist Prosecutor Rebecca Macaulay-Addison said Richardson carried on driving knowing Mr Mullins was trapped, that death or really serious injury was virtually foreseeable, and that this was why murder rather than causing death by dangerous driving was pursued; she said Mr Mullins should still be here with his family, and that no verdict could bring him back or ease the pain of his family, the school community and the pupils he taught. The CPS describes the conviction as one of the first murder convictions arising following a road traffic collision.

- **Sentencing (court reporting, 30 October 2026):** sentencing is scheduled for Monday 2 November 2026; the judge told the court murder carries a mandatory life sentence. No sentence figure is stated in this file, because none has been imposed yet.

- **What is NOT evidence in this file:** any motive for the original collision; any injury detail beyond the CPS post-mortem summary; any sentence; any appeal; any biography of either man beyond what the sources state; and any claim from low-quality web pages repeating this story, which this file does not repea.

*Caption: Illustration of a quiet country lane at dusk — atmospheric artwork, not a photograph of Warburton Lane or Wet Gate Lane and not evidence.*

## STILL UNKNOWN

- **Why did Richardson drive through the junction?** No motive or explanation for the original collision is stated in the sources relied on here, and this file invents none.

- **What sentence will be imposed?** Sentencing is scheduled for 2 November 2026. Until it is imposed and reported, this file records no sentence.

- **Will there be an appeal?** Nothing about an appeal is reported in the sources relied on here.

- **What did the jury make of each individual piece of evidence?** The verdict is unanimous and public; the jury's internal reasoning is not, and this file does not reconstruct it.

> **What would change this file:** if a sentence is imposed on 2 November 2026, if any appeal is lodged or decided, or if the court publishes fuller sentencing remarks, this file will be updated with the date, the source, and the new stamp if the facts require it — never quietly rewritten. Until then, the stamp stays CONVICTED.

## WATCH THE FULL STORY

No companion video yet. If Dark History Files' sister channel Curiozoid publishes a video on this case, it will be linked here.

## SOURCES

- Crown Prosecution Service, North West, 30 October 2026 press release — "Driver guilty of murder after striking local headteacher on a bicycle and dragging him beneath the car": Richardson, 35, drove through a junction on Warburton Lane, Altrincham, and struck Mr Mullins, 56, cycling home from Stretford Grammar School shortly after 6 p.m. on 20 April 2026; Mr Mullins trapped beneath the Volvo; 2.2-kilometre drive, at times at twice the speed limit; two-minute stop and failed attempt to pull him free; continued to Wet Gate Lane, Lymm, veered and mounted the verge, Mr Mullins freed, Richardson drove away; pronounced dead at the scene; post-mortem finding that death came from injuries sustained beneath the car rather than the initial collision; passenger dropped off, Volvo swapped for a friend's silver van, false account attempted; passenger told police the next day; 21 April Failsworth stop, dangerous evasion, arrest, no-comment interview; prosecution case on knowledge and intent; Specialist Prosecutor Rebecca Macaulay-Addison's statement; "one of the first murder convictions arising following a road traffic collision". Read in full.

- Bury Times, 30 October 2026 — "Man found guilty of murder of much-loved head teacher Michael Mullins": two-week trial at Manchester Minshull Street Crown Court; Richardson denied murder, manslaughter and dangerous driving; passenger Gabrielle Debotte's evidence ("he's under the car", moaning heard, two failed attempts to pull him out on Wet Gate Lane); defence statement that he did not know until after the freeing on the verge; Richardson did not take the stand; jury sent out Wednesday, unanimous guilty verdict after around ten hours and fifty-five minutes; guilty of dangerous driving on 21 April; manslaughter an alternative charge needing no verdict; sentencing on Monday; post-scene movements (Lymm petrol and salon stops, evening Volvo-for-van swap, journeys to and from a cousin's home, 11 a.m. arrest on 21 April after a pursuit). Used for trial detail and sentencing date; no fact in this file rests solely on this source where the CPS account covers it.

- The Oldham Times, 30 October 2026 — "Man guilty of murdering headteacher Michael Mullins" and "Tributes paid to 'irreplaceable' Stretford headteacher": verdict on 30 October after a two-week trial at Manchester Minshull Street Court; Richardson failed to give way at a stop sign, continued driving while Mr Mullins was trapped, changed cars to evade capture, arrested the next day after a short pursuit; sentencing due Monday 2 November. Used only to corroborate the verdict, the court, and the sentencing date.

- The Guardian's court reporting of 30 October 2026, as carried by World Right Now — "Man who ran over cyclist and dragged him under car for a mile convicted of murder": Richardson, 35, found guilty at Manchester Minshull Street crown court; Mullins, 56, headteacher at Stretford Grammar School, struck on the evening of 20 April cycling home; jury sent out Wednesday, verdict returned around 11:45 a.m. Friday; Richardson also found guilty of dangerous driving arising from the 21 April police pursuit; judge Mrs Justice Brunner KC. Used only to corroborate the verdict, court, and dangerous-driving conviction.

- Social-video reporting on 30 October 2026 (LBC, ITV News, Manchester Evening News video reports) confirms the story's trending status on the day of the verdict; no fact in this file rests on a social-video summary, and where a social summary disagreed with the CPS (for example, naming the school as "Stratford"), the CPS spelling "Stretford" was followed.

- No competitor article text or image is reproduced in this file. Facts are stated in Dark History Files' own words, with officials' statements attributed to their source. No source beyond those listed above was relied on for facts in the draft. No search-volume numbers are stated, because no tool returned any.

*Caption: Illustration of a quiet courthouse exterior at dawn — atmospheric artwork, not a photograph of Manchester Minshull Street Crown Court and not evidence.*

**Reader question:** This conviction turns on what a driver did after a collision, not on the collision itself. When the difference between a driving offence and murder is a driver's knowledge in the minutes that follow, should the law judge those minutes as harshly as this jury did — or is there a line, in a case like this, that a court should not cross?

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