Jury discharged in trial of bus driver accused of killing medical student

 
Ming Wei Tan: Died from massive internal injuries after she was trapped under the wheels of a London bus
20 June 2012

The jury in the trial of a bus driver accused of killing a Cambridge University medical student and dragging her body under his vehicle for more than half a mile has been discharged.

Shahriar Firouzian, 52, was charged with causing the death of Mingwei Tan by careless driving.

Blackfriars Crown Court in south London was told today there was no realistic prospect of a conviction and a verdict of not guilty was formally entered by Judge John Hillen.

Miss Tan, 20, was hit by a night bus as she crossed the road in Hampstead, north London, in the early hours of September 30, 2010.

Firouzian, of Harrow Way, Watford, denied the charge, saying he thought he had run over a bottle initially and then a fox.

The court had been due to hear evidence from Firouzian today, but prosecutor Hamish Reid told the six male and six female jurors that the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) had conducted a review and decided not to proceed with the case.

He said: "The Crown Prosecution Service are satisfied there is no longer a realistic prospect of conviction and would not seek to take this any further."

The judge told the jury that "no doubt there will be a review" into the case by the CPS.

Referring to the way the trial had been conducted, he added: "It sometimes felt as if I was sitting as a coroner and you were a coroner's jury. That was never the purpose in this case.

"The purpose was whether Mr Firouzian was culpable, whether he was to blame for what tragically happened to Miss Tan.

"The prosecution have, rightly in this case, come to the conclusion that they cannot ask for a conviction on the evidence they have been able to place in front of you."

He added that was "entirely proper" and reassured the jurors that they had served a vital role in the trial process.

Firouzian sat in the dock with his head bowed as a translator explained what was being said in the courtroom.

Judge Hillen said that in a coroner's court, the jury might have returned a verdict of misadventure or accident but that the prosecution had decided "they can no longer say that Mr Firouzian is blame-worthy".

He added that in such a case focused on the defendant, it can be forgotten that "there is a family - not in this case who have been present in court - but who have lost a daughter, a sister".

Firouzian's solicitor Chandrakant Solanki read a statement on the steps of the court.

He said: "My client is very relieved that this case is now over. It has taken almost two years to be resolved.

"He is very conscious of the loss suffered by Miss Tan's family and friends. This whole matter has been a tragedy for all the parties concerned.

"Mr Firouzian would like to express his thanks to his friends, family, the defence experts and his legal team for all their support and help through this difficult time."

A CPS spokeswoman said: "At the commencement of this trial we considered that there was a realistic prospect of conviction.

"During the course of the trial some key aspects of the prosecution evidence, particularly with regards to expert evidence, were undermined.

"This weakened the prosecution case and meant that we were unable to prove that Shahriar Firouzian had driven at a standard which was below that of a competent and careful driver.

"In line with our duty to keep cases under continuous review we have re-reviewed this case and concluded that there is no longer a realistic prospect of conviction."

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