...his barrister, Neil Ronan, stressed that he still has neurological problems from a traumatic brain injury suffered in the collision on November 15 last year.
"The person before you today, by dint of these injuries, is not the person who caused the criminal behaviour," he said.Did I say 'inventive'? Sorry. I meant 'taking the piss'.
Michael Lavery, prosecuting, told the court how Ashcroft, who had no licence or insurance, was riding a Kawasaki motorbike which had been stolen 10 days earlier.
"He was driving dangerously, so much so, that when he stopped the vehicle, the back wheel rose from the floor," said Mr Lavery, who added that witnesses estimate he was riding at 60mph in a 30mph zone before smashing into an Audi A3 as it turned right on Wigan Road, Leigh at 12.50pm.
"Witnesses to the accident as he went over the top of the car describe his driving as reckless and at very high speed," said Mr Lavery. Ashcroft was rushed to hospital with serious head injures, fractured spine and pelvis, an ankle injury and lacerated spleen.
"He was quite lucky to be alive," said Mr Ronan.
The general public, however, is very unlucky...
Recorder Michael Hayton QC sentenced Ashcroft , who has no previous convictions, to 15 months in prison, suspended for two years and ordered him to participate in 30 days of rehabilitation activities. He was also banned from applying for a driving licence for two years.
That shouldn't really worry him, should it, since he never bothered to apply for one in the first place?
General public? Well, certainly not motorcycle or car owners.
ReplyDeleteAs for the motorcyclist, he's to blame for buying a Japanese bike. If he'd owned a British one, it may well not have worked when the thief tried to drive it away - and even if it did, it probably wouldn't have still been working 10 days later.
And then there's the Audi. Maybe the thief on a stolen bike hadn't realised that German cars don't have indicators. If he'd had a driving licence, he'd have had the driver training that points that fact out. Surely that's one of the facts you are taught early on? (Another is that a woman driver will never let you out of a side road - that's classed as rape, don't cha know?)
"And then there's the Audi. Maybe the thief on a stolen bike hadn't realised that German cars don't have indicators."
ReplyDeleteIt's funny because it's true! 😂