Police have located Gye Worthy, a 40-year-old man who was subject to an arrest warrant after failing to appear at court for assaulting a celebrant at the funeral of an A66 crash victim.
Worthy had been due to be sentenced at Teesside Magistrates' Court for the assault on celebrant Paul Maull during the funeral service for Cole Worthy, 17, on September 9. He had also admitted resisting arrest at the funeral service and stealing four bottles of wine worth £30 from a shop on October 8.
Warrant Issued After Court No-Show
Worthy failed to attend Teesside Magistrates' Court on Monday, where he was set to face separate charges. He also did not appear on Tuesday, when Deputy District Judge Julia Baggs agreed to a prosecution application for a warrant, "not backed by bail", to be issued.
The court heard Worthy had not contacted the court to explain his absence, nor had he been in correspondence with his solicitors. The deputy district judge said: "In these circumstances, I do accept the application for a warrant not backed by bail." Later on Tuesday, Cleveland Police confirmed Worthy had been located.
Background to the Case
Worthy had pleaded guilty to theft when he appeared in court two days after the shop offence, and the case was adjourned for a pre-sentence report to be prepared.
Cole Worthy and four friends were killed in a head-on collision with a marked police vehicle in the early hours of August 22 on the A66 at South Bank. They were in a VW Passat that had been in a pursuit with police, which was called off when the suspect vehicle went the wrong way down the dual carriageway. Seconds later it collided head-on with a car containing Pc Tom Clough and Pc Matthew Blades, who were killed at the scene along with Worthy, Jakub Matusiak, 23, Theo Rae, 17, Makai Saddington, 18, and Michael Cahill, 23.
Trouble was believed to have started earlier that night when a car rammed into Worthy's family home in Acklam.
