Anne Tongs, of Eastern Esplanade, Southend, died on June 4 when Chloe Thompson, 19, ploughed into the back of her car while she was in stationary traffic on the M25 near Swanley, Kent.
Thompson, of Carlton Road, Eastbourne, East Sussex, admitted a charge of causing death by dangerous driving at Maidstone Crown Court.
She was driving a Smart FourFour. The dead woman was in a Citroen C4. You can gather from
that just how hard the impact must have been...
Anita Bryant, 68, of Shoebury, was a friend of Mrs Tongs, who was a member of the RNLI and used to collect cash for the charity on Southend High Street.
She said: “I had known her for two years and she was a very good friend in that short time.
“We were all part of the same group.
“She had two daughters, one who lives in Billericay and one who lives in Helsinki.
“She was coming back from taking her to the airport when it happened.”
If they don't throw the book at her, there's no justice.
Thompson will appear at the court to be sentenced on February 8.
Judge David Griffith-Jones QC order a pre-sentence report from the probation service.
*sighs* I forgot. There's likely no justice.
Quinton Hunt, defending, said the consequences of Thompson’s driving had been “nothing short of tragic”. There had also been profound consequences for her, he added.
Mr Hunt said a psychiatric report in respect of the neurological conditional (sic) the teenager suffered from was being prepared.
That being something that clearly didn't disqualify her from driving a car, so why should it have any bearing on her culpability for the crash?
No details of the crash? Did she just fail to see the stationary traffic and rear end her at full speed? What bearing has her mental state on this? There's not enough info in the news report to have an opinion on this.
ReplyDeleteFucking about on a mobile, I bet. I've been momentarily distracted, looked up, and seen a line of stationary traffic in front of me and had to haul on the anchors more times than I'd like.
ReplyDeleteOMG I am so sorry my crap driving killed a woman and I am so broken up by it should not be considered any kind of defence.
ReplyDelete"No details of the crash? Did she just fail to see the stationary traffic and rear end her at full speed?"
ReplyDeleteIt sounds very much like it. Maybe we'll get more details next month at sentence?
"Fucking about on a mobile, I bet."
It wouldn't surprise me.
"...should not be considered any kind of defence."
I'm tired of hearing 'remorse' given as mitigation. It's not. It's what you should feel, if you're human.