Should he be sent to jail?

[anotheoldgit]

Should this father be sent to jail or is the life sentence of being responsible for the deaths of 4 of his children punishment enough?

Incidently on the TV news it showed this vehicle being put through it's paces by the police. The vehicle was being driven at quite a high speed in and out around cones, there didn't appear much wrong with the steering, and yet..............

Investigators found the rear brakes 'hardly worked at all' and there were also faults with the rear axle and steering.

'Simply steering it in a straight line would have been difficult,' Mr Spencer said.

[youngmafbog]

Dont have the facts so cant comment just yet.

If however he is found guilty by the Jury then yes Jail - no doubt about it.

[anotheoldgit]

Sorry,

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-109287 4/Car-crash-father-killed-children-converted-d eath-trap.html

[brionon]

You are Too hard on the poor Motorists. They only kill about 2,600 a year in the UK and just a paltry 30,000 seriously injured. Have you no Shannon 's mother to hate ?

[jake-the-peg]

I will be interested to see the outcome of this.

It seems that he's been charged with causing death by dangerous driving when it wasn't the standard of the driving as much as the standard of the maintenance work that is in question.

Also having one of these vehicles I know that they can be quite tricky and that some of these faults can be easily exagerated.

External roll cages are routinely fitted and do not necessarilly cause a hazard and rear brakes "hardly worked at all" is rather imprecise.

Do you know how many bolts secure your seat ?

I'd like to hear the defense case too but the Mail always seems to have a bit of an aversion to printing that.

Personally it sounds to me that they don't have an appropriate charge and are making do with this one. Reckless endangerment seems most appropriate but I don't think we have that in UK law.

[New Judge]

I, too, was similarly bemused, jake.

The wording on Dangerous Driving in the Road Traffic Act is quite clear and it relates to the standard of driving, not to maintenance or alterations.

The report does say that the defendant �...was allegedly travelling at up to 60mph before losing control on a bend after passing two vehicles heading in the other direction" and if it is those actions that have attracted the charge then I understand. However, it seems that the prosecution is introducing the standard of maintenance as an aggravating feature and I cannot see how that can relate to the standard of driving at all.

We�ll have to wait and see.

[anotheoldgit]

i'd like to hear the defense case too but the Mail always seems to have a bit of an aversion to printing that.

Why spoil your otherwise excellent post Jake by including your routine dig at the Mail?

The defence have not stated their case yet, but I am sure when they do the Mail will print that also.

Regarding the seat bolts, the report states that there should be 4 securing it, but there was only 2 in this case.

[QueenOfAmber]

Heck yeah he should!
Knowing the British government though he'll probably only get 4 years then they'll half it for 'good behavior'. Stupid British government... although I can't say much about the American government either...

[jake-the-peg]

Well we'll just have to wait and see AOG

Do be sure to post the link when the Mail reports the defense.

I'm sure they'll not just skip to the verdict with either a "Let off Scott-free shock" or "Only got x years let out in half that" scandal.

You don't write for the Mail do you Queen of Amber?

[tigerlily11]

Anything they do to him now isn't going to bring back his kids. And that on it's own is enough of a torture for the rest of his life.
They are dead because of him and nothing will change that.

[lynbrown]

But a punishment must be handed down to act as a warning to others who mess around with their cars.

[bundleone]

I wonder if it had an up to date MOT, if it did the it should have been safe to drive and maybe it was the actual driving that was at fault