Sand yacht death pilot cleared

Carol Cruz was killed in front of her young sons

A sand yacht pilot has been cleared of the manslaughter of a mother of two on the beach at St Anne's, Lancashire.

Adrian Warren, 49, of Cedar Road, Doncaster, denied the manslaughter of Carole Cruz, during a sand yacht race.

The 38-year-old victim was walking along the beach with her two young sons when she was hit by Mr Warren's three-wheeled sand yacht in August 2002.

Preston Crown Court freed Mr Warren on Friday. The sand yacht hit Mrs Cruz, from Burnley, at 45mph.

Mrs Cruz, 38, died in front of her two sons, then aged 12 and 14, to the beach at Lytham St Anne's on 17 August, 2002.

My pain can't be measured against the loss and pain felt by Carole Cruz's family Adrian Warren

The divorced teaching assistant had been walking back to the sand dunes from the sea when she was struck by Mr Warren's yacht.

At the time Mr Warren, who has sailed sand yachts since he was 10 and represented Great Britain 12 times, was racing on the beach with the Fylde International Sandyacht Club.

In videoed police interviews watched by the jury earlier this week, Steffan and Jason Cruz described how the sailing craft hit their mother.

"I just froze. It just felt like a nightmare. I felt really light-headed," he told police.

'Blame myself'

"You just can't believe seeing your mum like that. A part of me knew she was dying."

Giving evidence in court Mr Warren said he has constantly gone over the events in his mind.

"I cannot understand where she came from," he told the court.

"I blame myself. I can't say it's not my fault. I did not see her."

He accepted his actions were a significant cause of Mrs Cruz's death, but said as a competitor he was not responsible for safety considerations.

'No triumph'

He called Mrs Cruz's death a "terrible and tragic accident".

In a statement read out by his solicitor Peter Turner outside court, following the verdict, he said he did not regard his acquittal as a "triumph of any sort".

"I have been living with the unbearable knowledge that I was the pilot of that sand yacht for over two years," he said.

"[But] my pain can't be measured against the loss and pain felt by Carole Cruz's family.

"I can only hope that at sometime in the future they will come to forgive me."