London taxi driver on trial accused of causing death by careless driving

A female salon boss died when the sports bike she was riding on the back of collided with a London taxi in central London on the 21st February last year. The motorbike is believed to of been travelling at around 40mph, twice the speed limit of the road that the incident happened on. The silver cab began to execute a U-turn resulting in a collision which caused, Claire Berretti, 45, to be thrown from the bike and receiving catastrophic injuries. Ms Berretti was pronounced dead at the scene. The fatal collision occurred on Farringdon Road Clerkenwell at around 8:45pm. The driver of the taxi, a Mr Jerome Lee, attempted a U-turn at a junction after his passenger asked him to drop them on the other side of the road. It has been claimed by Mr Shaun Hoffman, the rider of the motorcycle, that an indicator was not used by the taxi driver to signal the oncoming U-turn. Mr Lee is on trial at the Old Bailey for causing death by careless driving. The court heard that Mr Hoffman was wearing a helmet fitted with an illegal tinted visor. Mr Hoffman has claimed he did not know that the visor he was wearing was illegal. According to a report in the Daily Mail , an investigator concluded that if the motorcycle had been traveling at the legal limit of 20mph the collision would likely of not happened and could of been avoided, and death would have been extremely unlikely. Mr Shaun Hoffman has pleaded guilty to speeding. Mr Jerome Lee denies causing death by careless driving. The trial continues.