Graham Belcher: Man accused of Scott Rose hit-and-run appears in court

The British man accused of fleeing a crash which killed Gold Coast father Scott Rose allegedly admitted to his girlfriend soon after that he quit the scene.

THE British man accused of fleeing a crash which killed Gold Coast father Scott Rose allegedly admitted to his girlfriend soon after that he quit the scene.

Graham Belcher, 52, had allegedly been disqualified from driving at the time, according his charges in court.

Belcher appeared via video in the Tweed Heads Local Court today, after being extradited from Queensland on Tuesday following his arrest at Brisbane International Airport when about to board a flight to Hong Kong.

Scott Rose

Wearing a blue forensic suit, Belcher sat quietly as duty solicitor, Tom Ivey, told the court the British native would not be applying for bail.

Belcher faces seven charges laid against him after he allegedly was involved in a three-vehicle crash at the intersection of Tweed Valley Way and Riverside Drive, Tumbulgum.

Mr Rose, 39, a father of two who worked for Village Roadshow theme parks, was pronounced dead at the scene, while another man was taken to Tweed Heads Hospital with chest injuries.

Court documents describing Belcher’s arrest were presented to the court, in which it is alleged he told his partner, Lisa Burnie, he was involved in the accident.

“The accused has made admission to his partner Lisa Burnie as to being the driver at the time of the collision and leaving the scene without exchanging details or rendering assistance,” the documents read.

Graham Belcher. Picture: Facebook

“The accused purchased a one-way ticket to leave the country at (11.50pm, Monday) indicating compelling evidence of fleeing the country.

“The accused had no luggage indicating no preparation and urgency to leave,” the court documents said.

After Monday’s crash, police began a search for Belcher and a late model 2019 Hyundai i30 with the Queensland registration plate 170 ZCP, which he was driving.

The car was found in the Tweed village of Terranora, according to a NSW Police spokeswoman, approximately eight kilometres from the crash scene.

“The vehicle was located at Terranora (Tuesday) afternoon with damage evident on the body on the car,” the spokeswoman said.

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Scott Rose and his family.

“The vehicle has been seized for forensic testing.”

Belcher is charged with dangerous driving occasioning death - drive manner dangerous, fail to stop and assist after vehicle impact causing death, negligent driving (occasioning death), cause bodily harm by misconduct in charge of motor vehicle, not give way to vehicle (give way sign/line), driver fails/refuses to disclose his identity, and drive while licence cancelled.

A final charge of driving while disqualified will be dealt with separately from the hit-and-run, and Belcher will be back in court on Monday, September 9, for mention.

His remaining six matters will be mentioned on November 20.

A man outside Tweed court said he was at court representing Belcher’s partner.

The man said the partner, who has allegedly been dating Belcher since last year, was a friend of his and told media she was very emotional.

“She is so terribly sad she is not really communicating – only with her girlfriends,” he said.