A so-called cowboy builder has pleaded guilty to killing a mother-of-three during a desperate 12-minute police chase that saw him drive at high speed across a golf course in Staffordshire.
A Fatal Pursuit Caught on Camera
John McDonald, 52, struck and killed 62-year-old Suzanne Cherry as she played golf with her husband at the Aston Wood Golf Club in Shenstone, near Sutton Coldfield, on 11 April 2024. The court heard that Mrs Cherry had just played her second shot when the grey Nissan van, driven by McDonald in a bid to escape police, careered onto the course.
Footage played at Worcester Crown Court showed McDonald driving "without care for anyone" after police pulled up behind his van, which he was driving without a licence. The video captured the van's tyres smoking as he twisted through residential streets in Shenstone, reaching speeds of up to 70mph in 30mph zones, running red lights, and driving on the wrong side of the road.
During the chase, he collided with several vehicles, including one carrying an 11-month-old baby. At one point, he reversed into the pursuing police car in what the prosecutor, Michael Burrows KC, said was "no doubt" an attempt to disable it.
The Moment of Impact and Aftermath
The harrowing footage then showed McDonald driving up a grassy hill on the golf course. Mrs Cherry's husband, Clinton Harrison, told the court he shouted "Sue" as loudly as he could when he saw the van speeding towards her, but she "could not possibly have got out of the way".
In a devastating account, Mr Harrison stated that after the impact, McDonald and two other men tumbled from the van and attempted to flee on foot. He revealed that McDonald "actually stepped over Sue as he ran from the van". Mr Harrison said he screamed at the men, adding: "I knew they would have my screams ringing in their ears for the rest of their lives."
Suzanne Cherry suffered catastrophic injuries, requiring her leg to be amputated. She died in hospital four days later.
Heartbreak and Guilty Pleas
In a victim impact statement, a tearful Clinton Harrison said: “I stand before you today not as a man seeking vengeance but as a man who has had the very foundation of his life destroyed.” He said their children had "lost a person who would cheer on their careers and stand beside them at every major event of their life".
McDonald, of Bloxwich, pleaded guilty to death by dangerous driving and an additional charge of conspiracy to commit fraud on Monday. The court heard he could not read or write.
The two other men in the van, Johnny McDonald, 23, of Dudley, and Brett Delany, 35, of Darlaston, Walsall, also pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit fraud. The court was told the trio had conned elderly and vulnerable victims out of tens of thousands of pounds for shoddy and unnecessary roofing work.
