TBH I can't see how anyone driving or riding a separate bike could be deemed responsible for the death of a different rider / driver. The only way I can imagine it happening is if they were "ordered" to ride dangerously, but that's stretching the point a bit.
Forget your imagination and look at the law.
Causing death by dangerous driving.
A person who causes the death of another person by driving a mechanically propelled vehicle dangerously on a road or other public place is guilty of an offence.
Ss. 1-2A substituted (1.7.1992) for ss. 1-2 by Road Traffic Act 1991 (c. 40, SIF 107:1), s.1; S.I. 1992/1286, art. 2
Note that there is no reference to the deceased being in or on the mechanically propelled vehicle. It is not restricted to anyone having control over a vehicle driven/ridden by another person, be they the deceased or not.
In my earlier post I said: "The tricky bit is defining, or proving, that there is a link between the way that one person acted as having a material influence upon the way that another acted."
There is plenty of precedent for cases where motorists have been successfully convicted of "Motor racing on public highways" even though there was no preordained plan to race each other. Simply the witness evidence was enough to convince the courts that their actions amounted to racing each other. The same is applicable for Dangerous Driving, the proving that the Dangerous Driving of others led to the death is a different matter and will depend upon each set of circumstances.
Have any "boy racers" been charged with this offence after racing and causing a death of another "boy racer"? If they have, I've never heard of it? If you know of one, can you post a link to it because it would make "interesting" reading to anyone organising a group rideout.
This case was debated at length on this very forum:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...road-death-camera-race-motorbikes-170mph.html
As in the OP's case, Bowden was charged with Section 1. IIRC, plea bargain reduced this to Section 2 (Dangerous Driving).
Ok then - so if someone drives off a cliff - and someone else drives off the cliff behind him. Is the first driver liable. I suggest not, but it's the same principle - ie in my book each rider / driver should be responsible for his vehicle - nobody elses.
Your analogy is as facile as it was when offered earlier. No-one is suggesting that merely following another vehicle is sufficient to warrant such a charge, no matter what the outcome. It's all about the circumstances, the manner in which the vehicles are driven and whether or not their actions "fall far short of the standard reasonably expected of a careful and competent driver".
There is no reason why anyone on a ride-out should worry, as long as their behaviour stays within the law, or at least doesn't stray into the definition of Dangerous Driving.