By Staff Reporter

Last updated at 12:59, Thursday, 02 August 2012

The teenage passenger in a car that crashed into a taxi told a court he had no idea it had been taken dishonestly.

Ashley George Macauley, 18, is accused of being in the BMW knowing it had been taken by the driver during a burglary in Penrith.

He has pleaded not guilty, saying he had no reason to suspect that it was a vehicle 21-year-old Scott Walpole had taken without the owner’s consent.

A jury at Carlisle Crown Court heard that the only thing they had to decide was whether Macauley, of Newtown Road, Carlisle, was aware of where the car had come from.

The car had been taken in a burglary in Penrith late on February 5. It was seen driving at high speed, and failing to stop at traffic lights in Carlisle soon after one o’clock in the morning, and was in collision with a taxi in Wigton Road.

Walpole, from Raffles Avenue, Carlisle, had since been jailed for burglary and aggravated vehicle taking.

Macauley admits being in the BMW when it crashed, but says he had been picked up in Newtown Road only moments before.

The trial continues.

First published at 11:26, Thursday, 02 August 2012
Published by http://www.newsandstar.co.uk