AN ENGLISH FORMER youth football coach who was due to stand trial on sex abuse charges has died in a car crash on the day his trial was set to begin.

Michael ‘Kit’ Carson (75) has been identified as the victim of the single vehicle crash after the car he was driving hit a tree in Cambridge.

The crash happened yesterday morning at 9.45am with police saying the red Mazda 3 car he was driving left the road and crashed into a tree.

No other vehicle or person was involved in the collision.

Emergency services attempted to save his life but Carson was declared at the scene a short time later.

Carson was due to stand trial at Peterborough Crown Court, beginning yesterday, on multiple sexual assault charges alleged to have happened between 1978 and 2009. 

Carson was accused of the sexual abuse of boys aged under 16.

Police have said that the alleged victims in the case have been informed and that efforts are also being made to contact all witnesses.

BBC News reports that Judge Matthew Lowe ruled that the case file be closed.