An ex-youth football coach has died in a car crash on the day he was due to stand trial over child sex abuse claims.

Michael "Kit" Carson was driving his red Mazda when it left the road and crashed into a tree at Bottisham in Cambridgeshire on Monday, police said.

Carson, 75, had been due to stand trial at Peterborough Crown Court, charged with 12 counts of indecent assault and one of inciting a child to engage in sexual activity.

The former coach - who worked at Norwich City, Peterborough United and Cambridge United - had denied 13 allegations involving 11 under-16s, dating between 1978 and 2009.

Prosecutor Jeremy Benson told the court that the defendant had died and that an investigation was ongoing.


"He was involved in a road traffic collision at about 9.45am yesterday morning. No other vehicles were involved," he said.

"The position is that the car was registered to Mr Carson and the person who died was of the appropriate age and had in his possession identification documents in the name of Mr Carson."

He added that the body had been identified by Carson's widow at around 4.30pm on Monday.

"Emergency services attempted to save Mr Carson's life but he was declared dead at the scene a short time later," a force spokesperson said.

"No other vehicle or person was involved in the collision."

Carson, from Cambridgeshire, had on bail at the time of the crash.

The judge has ruled that the case be closed.