A DRIVER due to be sentenced for driving dangerously on the A34 has died before he could attend court.

Earl Russell, 56, of Hinton Crescent, Appleton, was due to be sentenced at Oxford Crown Court on Tuesday (March 19) for one count of driving dangerously on February 11 this year and one count of failing to stop when asked to do so by police on the same day.

The incident took place on the A34 in South Oxfordshire as Russell’s Ford KA travelled towards Chieveley in Berkshire.

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However, prosecutor Kathy Oliver told the court that Russel ‘may be deceased now’.

Recorder Alex Young requested an interim death certificate be provided or an officer who may have identified Russell’s body.

He said he understands a coroner is involved.