Death by Careless Driving; Sentencing Guidelines and the Custody Threshold
| DOI | 10.1350/jcla.2010.74.2.620 |
| Date | 01 April 2010 |
| Published date | 01 April 2010 |
| Subject Matter | Court of Appeal |
Court of Appeal
Death by Careless Driving; Sentencing Guidelines and the
Custody Threshold
R vCampbell [2009] EWCA Crim 2459
Keywords Causing death by careless driving; Custodial sentences; Sen-
tencing guidelines; Category of driving; Momentary inattention
In October 2008, the appellant was driving a vehicle in Kirkby, Mersey-
side on a side road, intending to turn right on to South Boundary Road,
a manoeuvre which necessitated crossing one lane of a dual carriage-
way. As the appellant pulled out of the side road, intending to pause at
the central reservation, his vehicle was struck by a motorcycle, just by
the rear passenger door. The rider of the motorcycle later died from the
injuries he received as a result of the collision. The appellant was
charged with causing death by careless driving under s. 2B of the Road
Traffic Act 1988, which provides that an offence will be committed if a
person causes the death of another person by driving a vehicle without
due care and attention or without reasonable consideration for other
persons.
At trial the appellant initially pleaded not guilty. When interviewed
by the police, the appellant had stated that he not been distracted by
passengers, fiddling with the radio or using a phone. He stated that he
was not tired and that he had simply not seen the motorcycle. There was
also some contested expert evidence suggesting that the victim had been
riding the motorcycle at excess speed. During the course of the trial,
however, the appellant changed his plea to guilty on the grounds that he
had a momentary and unintentional lapse in concentration. In his
remarks prior to passing sentence, Judge Globe QC pointed out that the
offence was a relatively new one and that it needed to be distinguished
from the more serious offences involving use of alcohol and dangerous
driving. He went on to recognise that the appellant had no previous
convictions, his guilty plea and his obvious remorse. The pre-sentence
report furthermore emphasised that there was a low risk of the appellant
reoffending. Having regards to all of this, the judge sentenced him in line
with category 2 as defined in the ‘Causing Death by Careless Driving’
sentencing guideline issued by the Sentencing Guidelines Council. The
appellant accordingly received a term of 24 weeks’ imprisonment, sus-
pended for two years, with two years’ supervision and a 100-hour
unpaid work requirement. In addition, he was disqualified from driving
for three years and his licence was endorsed with eight penalty points.
The appellant applied for leave to appeal against sentence. It was
contended that the imposition of a custodial sentence was manifestly
excessive. The appellant maintained that the judge had erred in classify-
ing the driving as in category 2 and that it should have more properly
been classified within the lower, category 3. It was further contended
100 The Journal of Criminal Law (2010) 74 JCL 100–103
doi:10.1350/jcla.2010.74.2.620
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