Yesterday, for the first time in my news career, I cried in court. It was when Paul Patterson’s wife read out a heart-wrenching and lengthy victim impact statement.
Her adored husband was taken from her last June. He was riding his Vespa scooter to a friend’s house, excited to see his brand new car – but he didn’t arrive.
He was thrown from his beloved motor because of Toby Clay’s decision to cut the corner on a known crash hotspot with reduced visibility. He died at the scene.
He killed a man – so how did he escape a prison sentence?
Well, ultimately, magistrates – and even judges in the crown court – are bound by sentencing guidelines. Clay was charged with causing death by careless driving. It’s an offence which carries a prison sentence of up to five years.
The three magistrates, headed up by Martin Clarke, decided to impose a community sentence with 200 hours of unpaid work and a 12-month driving ban. The closest Clay will come to prison now is when he was taken to Swindon Magistrates’ Court cells ‘for his own safety’ ahead of his appearance.
Mr Clarke is one of my favourite magistrates. In my opinion, he imposes deserved punishments and employs the use of stern words during sentencing. But he has empathy too.
In this case, Clay was never going to prison. But the police aren’t to blame. The courts aren’t to blame. The Crown Prosecution Service aren’t to blame. The sentencing guidelines are.
Even if the magistrates stepped outside the guidelines and imposed a slightly more significant punishment, it probably would have been a suspended prison sentence.
20-year-old Clay wasn’t drunk or on drugs, he was insured, he had no previous convictions and even the prosecutor Tom Power confirmed his crime was simply “momentary inattention”.
His solicitor described working from the sentencing guidelines to determine the punishment as “very cold, very clinical”. But that’s the law, and it must be followed.
Undoubtedly, the family will be feeling an overwhelming sense of injustice. When somebody kills your father, your husband, your family member, you expect them to be locked up for a very long time.
Clay should be in prison, it’s as simple as that. He broke the law, and as a result, he killed Paul – it’s inexcusable and this sentence is not justice.
Perhaps now is the time for the government to review the law on causing death by careless driving and bring in a starting point of imprisonment. It might make motorists think twice about cutting corners.
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