Motorcycle missing from fatal crash

26 February 2019, 14:56 | Updated: 26 February 2019, 14:59

Officers investigating the circumstances of a fatal collision in Reddish are trying to locate the motorcycle.

At around 4.10pm on Sunday (24 February 2019) officers were called to reports that a motorbike had collided into a house on Gorton Road.

A man – who has since been formally identified as 23-year-old Cael Rawley-Bell – was taken to hospital where he sadly passed away.

Mr Rawley-Bell was riding an orange off-road Enduro style motorbike during the collision but, prior to emergency services attending, someone removed both the bike and Cael’s helmet – which had come off during the collision – from the scene.
That person has not been identified and the bike is yet to be recovered.

Appealing directly to witnesses, Police Constable Suzanne Keenan of GMP’s Serious Collision Investigation Unit, said: “I understand whoever removed the bike from the scene may have done so with the best intentions, believing they were possibly helping Cael and not realising how seriously injured he was, however without this key piece of evidence, we’re unable to give all of the facts to Cael’s family – facts they so very much deserve to know.

“Imagine having a jigsaw and the last piece is missing – without the bike, we will not have the whole picture and how Cael sadly came to his death.

“I appeal to anyone who knows where the motorbike is or knows who removed it from the scene to contact my team urgently.

“With the help of specialist investigators, we can piece together marks on the road to understand the journey of a vehicle but dashcam footage may also help us enormously in these circumstances so please if you have any, get in touch.”

Anyone with any information should call police on 0161 856 4741 quoting incident number 1593 of 24/02/19 or the independent charity Crimestoppers, anonymously, on 0800 555 111.