Death by Dangerous Driving – New Interim Guideline?
| Published date | 01 June 2023 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1177/00220183231167923 |
| Author | Adam Snow |
| Date | 01 June 2023 |
| Subject Matter | Case Notes |
Death by Dangerous Driving –
New Interim Guideline?
Soto & Anor, Re (Re Section 36 of the Criminal Justice
Act 1988) (Rev 1) [2023] EWCA Crim 55
Keywords
Dangerous driving, sentencing, road traffic offending, road death, death by dangerous driving
Soto and Anor were involved in an application by HM Solicitor General to refer to sentences in R v Soto
and R v Waite as unduly lenient. Both cases involved drunk drivers who had been convicted of death by
dangerous driving (hereafter DbDD) who were subject to the new Section 86(2) of the Police, Crime,
Sentencing and Courts Act 2022 which increased the maximum sentence for that offence from 14
years to life imprisonment. The sentencing council has recently consulted on changing the guidelines
to reflect this increase in the maximum tariff but no formal replacement guideline has yet been issued.
The question for the court in both cases is to what extent the new maximum sentence (applicable to
any offence committed after 28th June 2022) should be reflected in the sentencing of the offenders
where the current relevant guideline still states the previous maximum sentence (of 14 years).
Facts of the Cases
R v Soto
Luis Balcazar-Soto (25 years old) was seen by multiple witnesses driving fast and erratically at 4 am in
South East London. Sophie Strickland, Jade Redford and Tanvir Ahmed were parked in a Rikshaw on
New Kent Road in Elephant and Castle. Jade left the vehicle to visit an ATM machine. Mr Soto
crashed into the back of the Rickshaw at speed instantly killing Ms Strickland and causing very
serious injury to Mr Ahmed. The Rikshaw was parked in a safe position at the side of the road in
which Mr Soto had no reason not to see it as the street lighting was good and the Rikshaw had rear
lights on. There was no reason for Mr Soto’s car to be impeded by the vehicle instead he swerved
into the back of it. There were three occupants in Soto’s car, all three attempted to leave the scene of
the accident. One was never found the other occupant was Soto’s partner who screamed they had to go.
After a short period of shock, Soto regained his composure and attempted to flee the area. He was
chased down by two passers-by who held him till the police arrived. Both alleged Mr Soto had said
‘let me go or I will fist you up’whilst they tried to detain him, he was also alleged to have offered
money for his release.
The female occupant of the car, Kayleigh Avalos, had a protection of harassment order which prohib-
ited contact from Mr Soto that had been imposed a month previously. Mr Soto was also under a 9-month
suspended sentence order (to run for two years and imposed only five weeks previously) from which the
harassment order arose. On interview, he gave a prepared defence statement and refused to answer any
further questions. He denied driving dangerously, said he was not speeding and denied threatening or
offering cash to the two people who detained him. On 1 September 2022 at a second hearing, he
pleaded guilty to DbDD, causing serious injury by dangerous driving and breach of a restraining order
Case Note
The Journal of Criminal Law
2023, Vol. 87(3) 218–222
© The Author(s) 2023
Article reuse guidelines:
sagepub.com/journals-permissions
DOI: 10.1177/00220183231167923
journals.sagepub.com/home/clj
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