A heartbroken family were kicked out of court by police during the sentencing of Nathan White who was driving on the wrong side of the road when he hit and killed biker, Bruce Huskie
Police were called to a courtroom when relatives erupted in fury after a motorist avoided prison despite ploughing head-on into a motorcyclist and killing him.
Nathan White, 31, a security operative, was travelling on the wrong side of a carriageway in Stockport town centre when his Honda Civic collided with a BMW motorcycle. Devoted biker Bruce Huskie, 55, a grandfather, died at the scene.
Several friends and relatives of Mr Huskie, a foster carer, reacted with rage when White, who had been consuming alcohol at a gathering prior to the collision, received a suspended prison term at Manchester’s Minshull Street Crown Court on Monday afternoon after he pleaded guilty to a single charge of causing death by careless driving.
The collision occurred on a 40mph-limit section of Tiviot Way in Stockport town centre at approximately 6am on September 7, 2024, prosecutor Lisa Boocock informed the court, reports the Manchester Evening News.
A reconstruction of the collision revealed that White, who was travelling with his girlfriend as a passenger, was driving on the ‘wrong side of the road’ on a ‘blind bend’ when the collision occurred, according to the prosecutor.
The velocity at which the Honda Civic was travelling was not determined by investigators. Mr Huskie was thrown from his machine and landed in some bushes, the court heard.
A local resident, alerted by the sound of the crash, later informed police that the defendant seemed to be suffering from a shoulder injury and ‘broke down’, claiming he had been drinking at a party but needed to pick up his girlfriend, according to Ms Boocock.
A roadside breath test conducted approximately 35 minutes after the crash revealed 38mg of alcohol in his system per 100mls of breath, exceeding the legal driving limit of 35mg, the prosecutor informed the court. The defendant provided another sample later which showed an alcohol level of 31mg on his breath, below the legal limit, said Ms Boocock.
She continued, stating the prosecution’s case was that the alcohol in the defendant’s system had decreased since the collision, but it would have been ‘in excess of 38mg’ at the time of the crash.
Four months after the incident, on 13 February 2025, police searched White’s home and phone tests revealed it had been ‘restored back to factory settings’, meaning no data existed from the device around the time of the crash, stated Ms Boocock. The prosecutor claimed the phone had been ‘removed from the scene’ and that the defendant ‘would have been aware police were looking for it’.
Mr Huskie’s widow told the court about her husband: “We truly loved each other.”
She portrayed her late husband as a ‘lovely, loyal, intelligent man’. She claimed she would ‘never know the truth’ about the crash.
The defendant had one speeding conviction on his record from August 2022 but had no other previous convictions.
Rachel White, defending, said her client had penned a ‘heartfelt’ letter of apology to the Huskie family but the family had not yet felt ready to read it. Nathan White is a ‘thoughtful articulate man’ who, according to his own mother, was now ‘consumed with self-hatred’, said the barrister.
He gave his time to a charity and church groups to support young people and was ‘exceptionally hard-working’, the court was told. The barrister said her client’s phone had been handed to his girlfriend to contact police and there was no evidence it had been kept from police or requested.
She said her client had mistakenly believed Tiviot Way was a dual carriageway.
Judge Tina Landale told the defendant it was a ‘reasonable assumption’ he was fatigued when he was driving and had collected his girlfriend. She said Mr Huskie had ‘no chance of surviving’ the crash and found that the defendant was ‘likely slightly over the limit for driving at impact’.
Several relatives of Mr Huskie could not contain their outrage in the public gallery as Judge Landale declared her intention to suspend a custodial term, imposing upon White, of Morland Road in Old Trafford, a 16-month sentence suspended for two years following his earlier guilty plea to a single charge of causing death by careless driving. He was additionally required to complete 300 hours of unpaid work and subjected to a four-month electronically-monitored curfew.
He was further disqualified from driving for two years and six months and must successfully complete an extended re-test should he wish to return to the roads after his ban expires.
One member of the Huskie family shouted ‘absolute joke’ as the sentence was delivered in court whilst others clashed with relatives of White, who were seated nearby. One individual from the Huskie group spat at a woman from the opposing party.
Officers were summoned and removed members of the Huskie family from the courtroom, according to the MEN.