A grieving mother has hit out after the man whose careless driving led to her son’s death received only a year’s driving ban.
Judith Haigh’s son James, a 32-year-old welder from Dalton, died on January 2 last year after being hit by 19-year-old Daniel Harbridge in Huddersfield Road, Dewsbury.
James was riding his Suzuki motorbike to work at Richard Alan Engineering in Shaw Cross.
Following a four day trial at Leeds Crown Court a jury found Harbridge, of Wakefield, who had been driving a VW Golf, guilty of causing death by careless driving.
Mrs Haigh, of Salendine Nook, said: “I feel that I need to voice my dismay at the lenient sentence this boy received.
“The judge gave the driver a 12 month community order, 80 hours community service and 12 month ban with £60 costs which I feel is ridiculous and no more than a slap on the wrist but one hell of a slap in the face for my family.
“I acknowledge, and my family and myself have always maintained, and still do believe, that a custodial sentence would serve no purpose and we are glad he did not receive this, which we told the prosecution and police from the day it happened and upheld this viewpoint throughout the court case.
“We still stand by this but the sentence he did receive I am not happy with as I firmly believe a longer ban at least should have been imposed.
“My son and we as a family were never mentioned (the only reference to my son was as ‘the deceased’) or considered throughout the whole case in my view.
“The driver showed no remorse or even offered any apology.
“I just need to try and find peace and justice for my son. I know nothing will bring my son back but I just feel he has been forgotten in all this.
“James wasn’t only my son, he was my friend too.
“And I feel it is so unjust that I have lost my son forever and the driver only lost his licence for 12 months. I ask you, is this justice?”
Dave Nichols, a spokesman for Huddersfield-based road safety charity Brake, said: “Lenient penalties are an insult to the families left to deal with the appalling tragedy caused by a sudden death on our roads.
“Through our support services for people bereaved and injured in road crashes, we often hear that families feel grossly let down by our justice system, often seeing the person responsible for killing a loved one back behind the wheel in no time at all.
“That’s why we’re calling for a review of charges and penalties for drivers who kill and seriously injure, and for judges to use the full range of their powers, to ensure punishments reflect the devastation caused.”
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