Sentencing him on Friday,Judge Sean Morris said he had shown "not one line of remorse", adding: "I'd dearly love to lock you up. Now go away and hang your head in shame."
Given he lied his way through the trial I don’t think there’s much point in expecting shame from him, your honour…
The judge rejected Beckett's account that cyclists had obscured his view. "You tried to blame cyclists, which was a nonsense, and you tried to blame the deceased for not having lights on. He did have lights on," he said. The prosecution said the collision was "no momentary lapse of concentration".
I fail to see why he shouldn't be charged with contempt of court then. Maybe that would attract the jail time that killing a man with a car doesn’t.
Beckett's defence barrister urged the court to suspend any prison sentence, citing Beckett's age, previous good character and clean driving record. Judge Morris said: "It is the will of Parliament that I have to suspend the sentence."
Then what’s the point of you? Might as well flip a coin…
2 comments:
"It is the will of Parliament that I have to suspend the sentence."
Because you had the good sense to kill someone, rather than tweet about them
"Beckett was also ordered to complete 180 hours of unpaid work, made subject to a six-month electronically monitored curfew between 18:00 and 06:00, and disqualified from driving for three years."
He's 81. He'll probably be dead by the time the driving ban expires. What useful work can he do in his 180 hours? And probably the taxpayer will be in the frame for taxi fares to get him there and back.
As for the motorcyclist, I do wonder how fast he was travelling. If Beckett had 9 seconds to see him, the motorcyclist also had 9 seconds to stop - or at least slow down, after all, he was more vulnerable. Probably more, as the motorcyclist was looking at a bigger object than the driver was, and also one travelling much slower.
I think that the curfew ends far too early. Whoever heard of an 81 year old wanting to leave the house that early? Or even get up - except to pee!
But on the whole, I'd say that this was a case of assisted suicide ...
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