• Home
• News
  • Breaking News
• Movies
• Music Videos
• Showbiz
• Sports
• People
• Travel
• Money
• Submit Your Story

By Charles Walford

Last updated at 2:31 PM on 20th February 2012

Victim: Ryan Fleming who was killed when he was struck by a Porsche

A garage mechanic who knocked down a schoolboy as he took a customer’s 200mph Porsche for a joyride faces jail after pleading guilty to killing the eight-year-old.

Ryan Fleming, from Heybridge, in Essex, died after he was mown down by a silver Porsche 911 Carrera as he crossed the road with a friend.

Witnesses claimed they saw Gary Reader, 32, who was behind the wheel of the Porsche, driving at ‘excessive speeds’.

Reader was working at a Kwik-Fit garage in Maldon, Essex, when a customer dropped in a £70,000 silver Porsche Carrera for repairs.

With his colleague Timothy Smith, 19, in the passenger seat, Reader took the high-performance sports car out for spin.

But he collided with Ryan Fleming, who was crossing the single carriageway Maldon bypass on his scooter with a ten-year-old friend.

The football-loving schoolboy suffered severe head and pelvic injuries and died in hospital following the accident on January 15 last year.

Reader, of Tiptree, Essex appeared in the dock at Chelmsford Crown Court today where he admitted a charge of causing death by dangerous driving.

The father-of-four also pleaded guilty to a further charge of aggravated vehicle taking.

He denied a count of driving without insurance, which prosecutors have said will lie on the files as it would not be in the public interest to prosecute it.

During the ten-minute hearing he was warned that a custodial sentence is inevitable. He faces up to 14 years in prison.

Smith, of Maldon, Essex, appeared before the same court last month, where he admitted a single charge of aggravated vehicle taking.

The two will be sentenced alongside each other next month.

No details of the case were heard in court today but afterwards police said witnesses had described the Porsche as travelling at ‘excessive speeds’.

Joyride: The customer's Porsche that Gary Reader was driving when he knocked down and killed eight-year-old Ryan

Judge Rodger Hayward-Smith QC warned Reader that prison was 'inevitable'.

Reader, who is now unemployed, was handed an interim driving ban but was granted bail before the sentencing.

Reader has previously spoken out to say if it had not been for his actions more children who were crossing the road would have been killed.

He said: 'I was not speeding at all. If I had not taken the correct action, all of the children would have been hurt.

'My heart goes out to Ryan and his family but I’m not a boy racer.

'I believe this has not been the only tragic accident at that spot - why has nothing been done before?

'We are all suffering after this tragic accident, Ryan’s family and mine.' Afterwards, Ryan’s family were too upset to comment.

Tragedy: A tribute from Ryan Fleming's mother Melissa was left at the scene of the accident

Tributes: Flowers and messages were left by the road where the eight-year-old was killed

But at an earlier hearing Ryan’s father, Richard Fleming, described the impact the case has had.

Mr Fleming who is separated from Ryan’s mum, Melissa Rowe, said: 'Every time I come to pick up Ryan’s brother Sean, I expect to see Ryan, he’s in our thoughts every day.

'Ryan and Sean are Melissa’s world, she’s a fantastic mum and her world’s missing a part now Ryan’s not here.

'As a family we’re still grieving and the pain goes on and on.'

The floor layer, who lives in London, added: 'When I got the phone call about the accident I just couldn’t believe it, I thought they were lying.

'When I remember Ryan I remember his cheeky smile and his mischievous nature.

'If he wasn’t up to mischief he was thinking about it.

'When I went to see him after the accident he still had that big smile on his face.'

The Kwik-Fit garage in Maldon where Gary Reader was working when he took the Porsche for a joyride