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Nathan Owen killed on M60

M60 death-chase cops 'overreacted'
Brian Lashley
8/10/2008

POLICE have admitted they 'overreacted' after being given the wrong information about a disturbance which led to the death of a promising young footballer.

Nathan Owen, 16, from Droylsden, died after being hit by a vehicle while trying to run across the M60 in Ashton under Lyne.

He was with two friends trying to cross the carriageway after fleeing from police.

An inquest in Stockport was told Nathan and three pals had been out drinking alcopops and lager while watching football in The Star pub, in Ashton, before the accident last October.

The boys were later involved in a confrontation with a security guard at Hollywood Bowl ten-pin bowling alley, in Ashton.

One of the group, Ryan Knott, 16, was thrown out for `messing' with a basketball game.

Outside, the boys were involved in a `shouting and swearing' match with the security guard and police were called.

A police van raced to the scene with blue lights flashing after being told by the CCTV control room it was `kicking off'.

One police officer, a special constable and two police community support officers believed they were responding to a fight and when youths were spotted fleeing, they gave chase on foot.

Nathan, Ryan Knott and Liam Warner, 16, ran down a grass embankment towards the motorway.

Pc Tariq Butt, who was unaware of the fatal accident at the time, said the security guard later described the incident as `something or nothing that doesn't matter'.

Coroner John Pollard asked him if the `uncorroborated details' they received led to a general overreaction based on unreliable information.

Sgt Butt, who has been promoted since the incident, said: "In hindsight, yes."

PCSO Lisa Riley said they would not have reacted the way they did if they had been told it was because of a person `messing' with a game.

In the last telephone conversation with her son, just hours before his death, Nathan's mother Pam urged him to be careful.

Ryan Knott said the three boys made it to the central reservation of the motorway and his two friends were in front of him. He ran across and heard `a bit of a noise' behind him.

He said: "Having got across, I heard this noise but I didn't see or hear what happened.

"I met Liam at the top of the hill and we didn't know what had happened."

Nathan was talent-spotted by Manchester United Football Academy at eight and later went on to the Bury School of Excellence, where he was captain of the junior team.

M-way death parents' agonising wait
Brian Lashley
10/10/2008

THE parents of a promising footballer endured a one-year wait to hear his friends describe the final moments before his tragic death.

Nathan Owen, 16, died after being hit by three cars on the M60 in Ashton under Lyne last October.

Two friends - one of them smirking in the dock - told an inquest they didn't realise he had been hurt. But the coroner and Nathan's mother said they didn't believe them.

The three boys were involved in a disturbance at Hollywood Bowl, Ashton Moss. When police arrived with blue lights flashing, they fled across wasteland towards the motorway.

Nathan's two friends, both 16, made it across the carriageway and ran off - saying they were unaware Nathan was injured.

It was the first time Pam and Mark Owen had heard their account of the tragedy.

They held hands and remained dignified throughout.

Speaking after the hearing Mrs Owen, 39, said: "I've had to see those boys standing at the end of the street for months.

"We've waited 12 months to hear what they had to say and it has been very difficult listening to them.

"Those boys were his friends for 10 years and I do not believe they didn't know what had happened when they ran away.

Security boss Stephen McGuirk, responsible for patrolling the entertainment complex, said he over-reacted when he called the CCTV control room requesting police assistance following a verbal disagreement between one of the boys and a doorman at the bowling alley.

He said problems in his personal life made him worry and panic.

In what was described by coroner John Pollard as `the Chinese whispers syndrome', police were told it was kicking off and believed they were responding to a fight and acted accordingly.

A police community support officer chased the three boys to wasteland, but stopped when he fell over.

Nathan and his friends had been out drinking alcopops and lager before the incident and the amount of alcohol in his body would have put him just above the legal limit for driving.



Mr Pollard recorded a verdict of accident death.

He said he did not believe the two boys were unaware of what had happened to Nathan.

Mr Pollard said: "This case epitomises the situations where youths fuelled by a relative amount of alcohol start fooling around and the result that day is a tragic loss of a young life."

Nathan was signed by Manchester United Football Academy when he was eight and later went on to captain the junior team at the Bury School of Excellence.