A father who armed himself with a bat before deliberately driving into a motorcyclist who was involved in a high-speed chase with his son has been jailed for 11 years after being found guilty of manslaughter.

Richard Radbourne, 47, died from multiple traumatic injuries including a severed spinal cord and brain damage after Murat Karakas used his Audi Q3 to drive into him as he rode his Harley Davidson in Comberford Road, Tamworth, Staffordshire, behind Max Karakas on March 3.

Karakas, 51, had armed himself with a small rounders bat when he learned there had been a disagreement between his son and Mr Radbourne, an HGV driver, and got into his car to go and find them as the motorcyclist pursued his son.

Stafford Crown Court heard that Max Karakas and Mr Radbourne were travelling above 70mph on 30mph speed limit roads when Karakas approached them head-on, allowing his son’s vehicle to pass before moving over the central line and hitting the motorcyclist.

Opening the crown’s case at trial, prosecuting barrister Michael Burrows KC said Karakas, of Gillway Lane in Tamworth, drove his “big car at a motorcycle to cause at least serious harm” to Mr Radbourne, who was catapulted from the bike.

A post-mortem examination showed Mr Radbourne suffered multiple serious injuries including a bleed on his brain, damage to his brain stem, a severed spinal cord, a torn aorta and fractures to his spine and thigh bones, and he died at the scene despite the efforts of passers-by and paramedics.

Judge Kristina Montgomery KC said Karakas, who had trained as a teacher in his home country of Turkey before coming to the UK and studying to become a boiler and gas engineer, had “formed a blockade” with his vehicle to stop Mr Radbourne, who the court heard had been drinking on the evening of the crash, from following his son.

She said: “The fact is when you saw your son’s car approaching and the motorcycle behind it, you slowed and pulled over the centre lines into Mr Radbourne’s path, having let your son pass.

“The resulting collision between your vehicle and Mr Radbourne was inevitable and the consequences were clearly to be anticipated by anyone.

“He had been thrown clear of his motorcycle by some distance. Your vehicle collided with Mr Radbourne’s motorcycle with such ferocity it was indistinguishable as a Harley Davidson to a trained police officer.”

Karakas had shown remorse for what he had done, phoning for an ambulance after the collision and writing a letter detailing his devastation to the court, but Judge Montgomery said he had not accepted accountability.

Using your vehicle, a substantial vehicle as it was, to stop an oncoming motorcyclist by creating a collision was a highly dangerous act. There was a clear and obvious danger to the rider

She said: “I accept it is genuine in that the outcome was something you didn’t desire but it is difficult to reconcile those words with the evidence at trial.

“Remorse is only genuine if it accepts accountability and I don’t find that you found yourself accountable for your actions.

“Using your vehicle, a substantial vehicle as it was, to stop an oncoming motorcyclist by creating a collision was a highly dangerous act. There was a clear and obvious danger to the rider.”

She also said Karakas had been preoccupied with self-preservation after the crash, passing the bat to a family member to “spirit away” from the scene before police found it.

The judge ordered Karakas to serve two-thirds of his 11-year sentence in prison before he could be released on licence.

He was also disqualified from driving for five years on his release and must take an extended retest before he is allowed to drive again.

In a statement read out at court on Friday, Mr Radbourne’s father Kevin described his son as having a “wicked sense of humour and a cheeky smile” whose motorcycle was his “pride and joy”.

He said: “To lose my son in such a senseless and tragic way is very difficult to come to terms with.

“He was my youngest son, my baby. He was 47 but still very precious to me. We are left with a void that can never be filled.”