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Morley reflects on Gumball car crash tragedy

Cheshire property developer Nicholas Morley has spoken for the first time about his conviction over the deaths of two people following a car crash during the Gumball Rally in Macedonia.

Morley, a director of Morley Estates, said he continues to have “nightmares” over the incident, in which he crashed his Porsche 911 into another vehicle.

He was found guilty of causing the deaths of an elderly male driver and the driver’s wife, and sentenced to a two-year suspended sentence after spending 40 days in a Macedonian jail.

He was allowed to return to Britain last week and will appeal the verdict.

Morley denied he was “racing” in the run-up to the collision, while his legal team claimed he was driving at 47mph.

He said: “I came round a corner and saw a flash of red ahead.

“The other car was pulling out of a junction. There was no time to do anything but brace ourselves.”

Morley said it was wrong to portray him as a “playboy” and said he wasn’t a millionaire but a “normal guy”.

He also denied that the accident was “a kind of hit-and-run”.

“During the trial my nerves were shot to pieces,” he said.

“When they told me I had been given a two-year sentence, suspended for three years, there was a feeling of tremendous relief.”

Morley said he had written to the family of the victims, Vladimir and Margarita Chepulyoski, expressing his regret and sympathy.

This year’s Gumball Rally, a trans-European car racing event, was cancelled following the incident.

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