A MAN accused of causing the death of a pensioner by dangerous driving has had the case against him dropped.

Denis Whittaker, 82, suffered a serious head injury, broken ankle and broken pelvis, when he was hit by a car as he crossed the junction of Preston New Road and Barbara Castle Way at 10am on Monday, January 25.

Mr Whittaker, who lived in Blackburn, never recovered from his injuries and died two weeks later at Royal Preston Hospital.

Following the fatal collision police arrested the driver of the car Zubair Iqbal, 27, of Notre Dame Gardens, Blackburn. He was later charged with causing death by dangerous driving and was due to stand trial on Monday.

But after it was revealed three experts could not unanimously agree on what speed Iqbal was driving at at the point of impact, or if he was even travelling above the 30mph speed limit, the prosecution decided to offer no evidence and the case was dropped.

Addressing Judge Andrew Woolman at Preston Crown Court prosecutor Paul Cummings said: “The experts started their discussions around three hours ago looking at the central issue - whether they could say the speed the defendant was travelling at before this collision took place. In essence they came at it from three different points of view. An agreed speed was 36mph but they insist they would have riders and caveats with that. One wanted to put it much higher and one wanted to put it much lower.

“Myself and the reviewing lawyer from the Crown Prosecution Service have reviewed the case. We have come to the conclusion a jury would not be able to say with certainty what happened in this case.

“We know sadly the pedestrian Mr Whittaker had been crossing the road, but he decided to cross against the guidance of the red man. He set off to cross the two lanes just after the vehicle in front of the defendant’s car had passed him. That led the experts to conclude that even if the defendant had been travelling at 30mph the pedestrian would still have been struck by the vehicle, all be it at a much lower speed. We hope Mr Whittaker’s family understands that having looked at all the evidence we have are in no other position that to offer no evidence.”

Mr Whittaker’s family had been in the court building earlier in the day but were not present when Mr Cummings formally offered no evidence.

Iqbal had always denied causing the death of Mr Whittaker by dangerous driving.