I found my son dead in a ditch using tracking app after he was mowed down by banned hit-and-run driver – it’s haunted me
A TORMENTED mum found her son dead in a ditch using a tracking app after he was mowed down by a hit-and-run driver.
Josh Ashworth was walking home in Grantham, Lincolnshire, when he was struck by banned driver Cole Tresidder, 22, in a BMW.
The 22-year-old’s family launched a search for Josh the following morning when he failed to return home.
Friends and family used a tracking app on his iPhone that showed he was stationery close to where he was hit on the A52.
Tragically, mum Rachael discovered Josh lying face down in a ditch.
She has now spoken of her horror at finding her son dead after Tresidder was jailed for seven years and two months.
Turning to Tresidder, Rachael said: “Why would anyone leave this beautiful human being on the side of the road?
“I could have been spared finding my son with those horrific injuries.”
Rachael described her son was “beautiful, complex and loving” as she told how she was “haunted for days and days” as she waited to find out his final moments.
Josh was killed instantly after suffering a fractured skull but it took time for his family to learn if he had been alive after the crash.
The mum added: “My life as I knew it ended on Saturday 23 April.”
Lincoln Crown Court heard how Tresidder had been banned from driving in December 2021 after he crashed into parked cars in Grantham.
When stopped by police on that occasion, he was in possession of 39 wraps of cocaine worth £1,560 and £1,000 in cash.
On April 22 last year, Tresidder got behind the wheel of the black BMW despite the disqualification.
He was speeding at 60mph in a temporary 30mph zone when he ploughed into Josh.
Tresidder then left Josh for dead in the ditch as he drove away and abandoned the damaged BMW.
He handed himself into police the following day after reading reports of a road fatality on social media but failed to provide a specimen to officers.
The driver claimed he did not know he had hit a person and believed he had struck a deer.
Tresidder pleased guilty to driving while disqualified and having no insurance when the crash took place.
He also admitted failing to provide a specimen and was banned from driving for 77 months.
Sentencing, Judge Sjolin Knight said: “Using a tracking App on his phone it was his mother who found Josh in a ditch by the A52.
“In her words ‘her beautiful boy dead by the side of the road’.”