Driver faces Josh death charge

Nov 11 2006 By Mark Cowan, Birmingham Mail

A MOTORIST has been charged with the harrowing hit-and-run death of a Birmingham toddler more than two years ago.

Josh Berrill was dragged 300 yards to his death when a white Toyota

MR2 ploughed into him and his 13-year-old aunt Millie Robinson in Alum Rock in August 2004.

Today a 21-year-old Birmingham man was appearing before magistrates in the city charged with causing the two-year-old's death by dangerous driving. The man was also charged yesterday evening with a number of other driving offences, including failing to stop and failing to report an accident.

The tragic tot's death sparked a Birmingham Mail campaign -spearheaded by his anguished family -for tougher sentences for killer drivers and improved road safety measures.

It is understood they were informed of the charges yesterday. However his 22-year-old mother, Nona Robinson, who was five-and-a-half months pregnant with her second child at the time of the tragedy, could not be contacted for comment.

Last year she told the Birmingham Mail: "All I want is justice for Josh. It won't bring Josh back, but it will help.

"Josh's death affected so many people, not just me. No one will ever be the same again."

Millie was holding Josh's hand as they crossed Burney Lane when the incident happened at 7.10pm on August 25.

His badly injured body was left lying next to a paper recycling bin outside the Ward End pub and opposite his grandparents' home.

Doctors lost their desperate bid to save him the following day.

Millie was left sitting on the kerb screaming "Where's the baby, where's the baby?"

She suffered a broken ankle and severe shock.

The car was found by police an hour later dumped half a-mile away in Pan Croft with the driver's door still open. It was not stolen but had changed hands a few weeks earlier.

A police spokesman said: "Officers have charged a 21 year-old Birmingham man with causing death by dangerous driving and other driving offences including failing to stop and failing to report an accident.

"He is due to appear before Birmingham magistrates today."

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