Family's fury at death crash sentence

A FAMILY of a Suffolk who was man killed in a car crash have reacted with fury at a 12-month driving ban handed to another motorist involved in the accident.

Paul Ager, 21, of Horseheath, was cleared by a jury at Cambridge Crown Court yesterday of causing the death of 28-year-old Christopher Osborne, of Haverhill, by dangerous driving.

However, he was found guilty of careless driving and banned for one year, fined £1,500 and ordered to pay £150 costs.

Passing sentence, Judge Gareth Hawkesworth told Ager: “You were driving at an excessive speed on a road you knew very well, in respect of which you should have known better.”

The judge said this had contributed to the crash which had “ultimately led to the death of another human being.”

Speaking after the verdict, Mr Osborne's mother, Joan, said she was “horrified” at the punishment.

She said: “It's totally ridiculous, our son was driving on the correct side of the road and he was hit by another car and killed.

“It could be anyone, whose son will be next? There is nothing to protect drivers who are driving perfectly correctly, where will it end?”

Mrs Osborne said she did not feel as if justice had been done and the pain of her son's death had not eased in the year since he died.

She added: “I don't feel justice has been done for anybody, Christopher hasn't received justice.”

She was accompanied to court by her husband, John, who said: “We are very angry and tremendously disappointed.”

The couple, who were supported by their other sons Graham and Andrew, paid tribute to Christopher, whom they described as a “wonderful son.”

Mrs Osborne said: “Our son was a tremendous boy and we miss him every minute of every day and always will, he was worth a lot more than a one year driving ban and a £1,500 fine.”

Graham Osborne added: “This makes a mockery of the Highway Code.”

Christopher was a silk screen printer, who loved art and had ambitions to succeed as a businessman.

He was killed on July 18 last year on the A1307 between Cambridge and Haverhill, when his car was hit by a “souped up” Vauxhall Nova driven by Ager, which went out of control and span across the carriageway into the oncoming traffic.

Ager emerged from the wreckage of the Nova, which was almost ripped in two by the impact, with only minor injuries.

The court was told that the poor condition of the tyres on the Nova, which belonged to a friend of Ager's, could have contributed to the crash.

Ager, an aeroplane engineer, denied he had been racing friends who were in another car at the time of the crash, but admitted under cross-examination that he had been driving too fast given the poor weather conditions.