Sunderland family's quest to learn more about son's death returns to court
and live on Freeview channel 276
Sunderland-born Frazer Golden, 30, died following what police described at the time as a “head-on collision” between two motor bikes in the Durham Dales on Sunday, April 9, 2017.
His parents, Dan and Linda Golden, from the Chapel Garth area of the city, were left “numb with frustration” after a criminal court case against the second rider, from South Tyneside, eventually collapsed nearly two years later.
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Hide AdNow a full inquest beginning on Wednesday, September 30, is examining the circumstances surrounding the former Farringdon Community Academy pupil’s death.
County Durham and Darlington Coroner’s Court, in Crook, was told that a post mortem by Home Office pathologist Mark Egan concluded that Mr Golden died as a result of head, neck and chest injuries following the collision on the A689, near St John’s Chapel, in Weardale.
Both a motorcyclist riding in front of Mr Golden and another riding behind the second rider said they did not see the crash.
The second rider, who was riding a Yamaha, is expected to give evidence to the inquest on Thursday.
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Hide AdNissan maintenance worker Mr Golden, who lived with partner Helen Gaughan, 24, in Seaham, was enjoying a day out on his Honda bike with a fellow motorcyclist from work and was heading home from Alston, in Cumbria, when the collision took place at around 2pm.
After the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) initially decided against prosecuting the Yahama rider on the grounds of "insufficient evidence", Mr Golden’s family forced a u-turn after applying for an official Victim's Right to Review.
The CPS said afterwards that “the overall evidential picture did not provide a realistic prospect of conviction for the offence of causing death by careless driving”.
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Hide AdYet it later apologised to the Goldens after it emerged that its North-East office incorrectly overruled its London Appeal Review Unit in offering no evidence in 2019.
Susan Hemming, the CPS’s, director of legal services, said in a letter to the family that the case “should have been prosecuted and adjudicated upon by the court”.