Driver avoids jail after fatal crash

A driver who killed a motorcyclist after a momentary lapse in concentration has been spared jail.

Sarah Pratt, 65, was driving her Volvo V60 on Sixteen Foot Bank between Upwell and Chatteris at just after midday on 3 June last year.

She was travelling southwest when she took the route over the railway bridge and moved to her right, but crossed the lane on which another vehicle was coming towards her.

Pratt collided head-on with Brian Dewey (pictured), 73, of Main Street, Little Thetford, Ely, who was riding a Kawasaki EN650 motorcycle.

Mr Dewey was pronounced dead at the scene and in a statement at the time his family said: “Brian was much loved and will be sadly missed by all who knew him."

Pratt, of Ryston Hall, Ryston, Downham Market, was interviewed by police and provided a pre-prepared statement in which she said she thought her route was clear but as she turned right towards the crossing, she heard a bang.

She remained at the scene and because of the crash, suffered a bruised sternum and suspected whiplash. The statement also said she had been incredibly shaken by events and suffered significant anxiety and distress and had hardly driven since the collision.

Pratt was later charged with causing death by careless driving, and pleaded guilty to the offence at Peterborough Magistrates’ Court on 12 August.

She was sentenced at Cambridge Crown Court on Friday (1 November) where she was handed two months and two weeks in prison, suspended for 18 months. She was also ordered to complete 175 hours of unpaid work and disqualified from driving for 18 months.

Sentencing, Judge Matthew Lowe said Pratt should have seen Mr Dewey as she turned but added that there was no evidence either party was driving at speed or unsafe.

He said that he had read the “heartbreaking” victim impact statements in the case, adding that it was clear Mr Dewey was “loved deeply by many” and there was an “immense void left” by his death.

Judge Lowe highlighted that he had sentenced Pratt on a “momentary lapse in concentration”, noting that she showed genuine and profound remorse, was a woman of good character and otherwise had a clean driving licence.

Detective Sergeant Craig Wheeler, of the BCH Serious Collision Investigation Unit (SCIU), said: “This was a heartbreaking case where a completely innocent motorcyclist has lost his life in a completely avoidable collision.

“I would like to remind all road users to ‘think bike’, and remind everybody that one small lapse in concentration can have devastating consequences. Whilst no sentence passed will ever compensate for the death of Mr Dewey, I hope that this outcome can offer his family some form of closure.”

Photo: Brian Dewey