Support road.cc

Like this site? Help us to make it better.

Drunk driver who killed charity cyclist Christian Smith jailed for five years

Bethany Mackie had drunk vodka and cocktails and was more than double the legal limit

18-year-old Bethany Mackie has been jailed for five years for causing the death of cyclist Christian Smith. Smith had been midway through a 24-hour charity ride when he was hit on Old Thanet Way near Chesterfield in March of this year. His wife, Katie, had been driving a little ahead of him and tried to save his life at the side of the road. “I could not and for this I will feel guilt for the rest of my life.”

Appearing at Canterbury Crown Court yesterday, Mackie pleaded guilty to causing death by dangerous driving, drink driving and leaving the scene of an accident. She has been jailed for five years, banned from driving for five years and will have to re-take her driving test.

Kent Online reports that Tom Allen, defending, said: “Her remorse is genuine and she struggles to see how she can deal with this in the future.”

Allen said that the teenager had been driving for four months when the accident happened and described what she did that night as being an “aberration”. He said that after going out in her home town of Herne Bay – where she drank vodka and cocktails – “it had not been her intention to drive”. However, Mackie’s passenger, who was upset about splitting up with this girlfriend, asked her to drive him home.

At 4am, 10 minutes into her journey, Mackie’s Peugeot 206 collided with Christian Smith who was travelling in the same direction.

Handing down the sentence, Judge Adele Williams said:

"You said you did not see him and he was not wearing reflective clothing, but he was. You also said 'I am sure I was driving at 69mph'. The speed limit on that road is 60mph but your speed was 76mph in the moments before the collision."

Amy Packham, prosecuting, said that Smith also had lights on the rear of his bike.

When police arrived at the scene, they saw Mackie and her passenger walking away. After smelling alcohol on her breath, she was given a breathalyser test, which she failed. A test taken two-and-a-half hours later showed she had 73 micrograms of alcohol in 100ml of breath – more than twice the legal limit.

Hit from behind, Smith had gone up and landed behind Mackie’s car. A post mortem revealed that he died from multiple injuries, including a fractured skull.

Packham explained how Smith’s wife, Katie, had been driving a little way ahead of her husband when the incident took place.

“Mrs Smith heard a noise and assumed her husband had been hit. She saw a car approaching at speed and had to take avoiding action and pull on the verge.”

Packham added that it was unclear why Mackie had failed to respond, having not stopped at once but instead about 400m down the road. It was left to Katie Smith to call an ambulance and despite significant efforts to save Christian’s life, he died at the scene.

“I was alone with him at the road and tried desperately to save him, but I could not and for this I will feel guilt for the rest of my life.”

Katie Smith then told the court how a few hours later she had to wake their three young children to tell them their father was dead. “The noises they made can only be described as horrifying.”

“A gaping hole has been left in our lives which can never be filled. My life is now one long day trying to make sure my children’s lives are as normal as possible. My partner has gone. I try to fill my time so I do not have to face reality. Nothing could have prepared me for how I feel.”

Tributes have poured in on Smith's JustGiving page since his death. The 38-year-old had been aiming to raise £1,000 for MIND through his ride, but donations have now topped £80,000. Earlier this year, Katie Smith pledged to complete the ride.

Sergeant Glyn Walker, from Kent Police's roads policing unit, said:

"This was a tragic incident that has had far-reaching consequences for everyone affected. Christian Smith's death has had a devastating impact on his family, friends and everyone else who knew and loved him, and our thoughts are with them today. Bethany Mackie must now live with what she has done for the rest of her life.”

Alex has written for more cricket publications than the rest of the road.cc team combined. Despite the apparent evidence of this picture, he doesn't especially like cake.

Add new comment

26 comments

Avatar
Jimmy Ray Will | 9 years ago
0 likes

Unfortunately people do not give a damn about the law, only the consequences of getting caught...

So, when the chances of getting caught are slim, and the repercussions minimal, there will be no incentive not to offend.

Speeding is a great example... the majority of motorists speed because they know that they are unlikely to get caught, and should they do so, chances are its going to be an inconvenience and a financial pain in the bum at worse.

Which in my mind means you have to either;

- make the punishment so extreme that the low risk of getting caught is countered...

- similarly, that the social acceptence of the crime in question is so low, that people do not want to risk becoming a social outcast for doing so...

- or you simply make it more likely to get caught.

In the case of drink driving... you will struggle to make the chances of being caught realistically high enough, therefore you are left with long sentences, or social pressure.

There has to be something.

Avatar
Stumps | 9 years ago
0 likes

Reoffending rates are high due to a number of reasons inluding unemployment, high cost of living, the limited availability of low cost housing hence the terminology of sofa surfing, poor education standards and sentencing guidelines being to soft. The rehabilitation of offenders only works if there is something for them to return to in the first place.

First hand experience is the best experience imho mate.

Your turn for a low baller ! regardless of whether my wife, son, daughter or whoever was responsible they have to live with their actions and nothing could or would ever change that. Yes i would be devastated as would you if it was your partner.

Avatar
ianrobo | 9 years ago
0 likes

for me this is akin to Manslaughter, if you go behind the wheel of a car over the limit you are dangerous and should be sent to jail for manslaughter and no chance to drive again. You lost that right when you killed someone. Be a cyclist, another driver or a pedestrian.

Avatar
Fish_n_Chips | 9 years ago
0 likes

So sad for the family and friends who have lost Christian.

Disgusted at the driver. We do make mistakes but twice over the limit and driving is just so selfish that it takes a life?

They need to educate the public with video and harsh sentencing.

R.I.P. Christian Smith.

 2

Avatar
a_to_the_j | 9 years ago
0 likes

i feel sick reading this report - sick over the human being who was driving, sick for the wife and what she had to go through, but most of all , sick of this justice system - that gives these people more chances to kill and mame on our roads.
if that had been a drunken stabbing, drunken brawl or drunken push the fella over a bridge death, life in prison would be the call. cyclists, 5 years, out in 2. sick.

Avatar
Flying Scot | 9 years ago
0 likes

Whilst drink driving is as bad as it gets, I don't think random breath testing is any more of a benefit than fixed speed camera's.

I would prefer if there were more traffic patrols pulling in all dangerous driving.

There are bloody awful drivers out there who don't speed or drink, they are a danger to everyone.

A few of the lesser blamed for you:

1) old farts who can propel their vehicles forward but can't react to anything in front of them and never look in their mirrors.
2) invincible housewives in truck sized 4x4's who speed in built up areas and who mount kerbs at high speed.
3) the slouch, holding the wheel to to the left with their right hand or their chin on the wheel - can't react to anything.
4) the smoker, holding a smouldering device in one hand ( this is legal, but biting an apple isn't...) try dialling in 180 degrees of lock with one hand.
5) the plainly uninsured and licence less, who the police can also spot, but what's the point, they've nothing lose.
6) the 'careful' driver who never goes above 40 - but in built up areas never goes less than 40, this type of driver can't cope.

All of the above are a danger to everyone on the road, pavement and even in your bed, if you live near a road.

Full test every 5 years for motor vehicles, no exceptions, and a 2 stage test for new drivers, let's drive the standards up. It's a small cost to pay and will generate some revenue with proper instruction and an army of examiners. It's a privelege, not a right, it's a lethal machine and one that can't be trusted.

I do have some experience, as a former race and performance driving instructor, who has even taught the police conversion between FWD/RWD/4WD ( though now with VDC that doesn't happen anymore)

It would be good to say that having a licence should include bicyle or motorcycle (CBT) type competency, but I suppose that discrimaties against those with physical issues.

Avatar
oldstrath | 9 years ago
0 likes

Agree completely about random testing, but even more can't understand why ignition interlock devices aren't compulsory. Together with mobile phone jammers, speed limiters and bkackbox reporters they could reduce a lot of the stupidity.

Avatar
Pub bike replied to oldstrath | 9 years ago
0 likes
oldstrath wrote:

Agree completely about random testing, but even more can't understand why ignition interlock devices aren't compulsory. Together with mobile phone jammers, speed limiters and bkackbox reporters they could reduce a lot of the stupidity.

Power to weight ratio limit in town would be good e.g. 50bhp/tonne to stop silly accelerations, dumb overtakes, and drag races from traffic lights.

Avatar
TerreyHill | 9 years ago
0 likes

I now live in Sydney where a police roadside random breath test unit can pop up where you least expect it at any time of the day. Can't understand why a similar system doesn't operate in the UK.

Avatar
PonteD | 9 years ago
0 likes

I doubt any sentence is enough to deter this sort of thing as there is a prevelant attitude in today's society of "I'll never get caught" and "it'll never happen to me" (how many people who speed think they'll be "that car" buried in the wall on those notorious bends, or how many smokers believe they'll contract lung cancer from smoking?).

We need to impress on all drivers how easily these sort of incidents happen to us all. I wonder how many times this girl had driven whilst over the limit in the past, every successful drunk drive only serves to further reinforce the idea that it's safe to drink and drive.

I really do wish police were allowed to camp in car parks and just wait for drivers to wobble to their cars and drive off. I would happily give a breathalyser test if I was stopped exiting a pub car park as it would be reasonable to suspect I had been drinking whilst in the pub.

Avatar
Yorkshie Whippet | 9 years ago
0 likes

@Yennings

Don't kid yourself about mtbing, it's worse. You run the gauntlet of illegal motorbikes. Horse riders with little concept of respect other than you get out of the way of the galloping ton of dog food. Dog walkers whose pooches run around off leash and when they are the leashes are used as trip wires. Bridleways blocked with tree trunks and branches or neck wires.

Even in the wilds you've 4x4 off roader, cross bikes and ramblers. As for mtbs on road, slower moving target spraying mud on the road. Not to mention yuppy bikers who have dropped a couple of grand on latest long travel bike and have little concept of how to ride it. After 25yrs, it was enough to drive me onto the road.

Avatar
Airzound | 9 years ago
0 likes

FFS she was driving at 76mph pissed out of her brains!

For people like Bethany Mackie we need the death penalty.

Avatar
Yennings | 9 years ago
0 likes

Further evidence of how badly the traffic laws in this country remain stacked in favour of the motorist. Even the inexperienced, drunk, speeding motorist. Disgusting really. Not to mention fleeing the scene afterwards. I really am starting to doubt whether legislators will ever move to redress the balance. It's enough to drive a man onto a mountain bike and bridleways, it really is...

Avatar
DivineChorus | 9 years ago
0 likes

Should have been sentenced to the maximum sentence of 14 years, dangerous driving, drink driving and leaving scene, can't get many more aggravating factors. I'm assuming she pleaded and got 50% off the sentence straight away,

I've taken too many cases to Court where you get a Guilty plea or verdict and then the sentence just leaves you shaking your head and apologising to the victims. I would imagine the officer in the case feels likewise.

On release she should never be able to drive a vehicle again, no excuse for getting behind the wheel pissed.

Avatar
Stumps | 9 years ago
0 likes

Banning people for life is not the answer as its nigh on impossible to regulate.

Much longer sentences are the way forward so that someone knows they are going to prison for a minimum of 20 years if they commit the offence.

However that aside my deepest sympathy to the family on their loss.

Avatar
oldstrath replied to Stumps | 9 years ago
0 likes

It should not be about getting the police to enforce revocation. It should be possible to enforce such revocation by technological means. Sure, it would impose costs on drivers, be less convenient, and reduce their privacy. So all good.

Also, can we please stop talking of 'bans', which suggests the removal of a right. It is revocation of a privilege, not at all the same thing.

As for this particular lying, murdrous toerag, hopefully she'll never again drink, drive, or have a moment when she forgets her murderous idiocy. Then she can go to every school in the vicinity and explain to the kids why they shouldn't copy her stupidity.

Avatar
Simon E replied to Stumps | 9 years ago
0 likes
stumps wrote:

Banning people for life is not the answer as its nigh on impossible to regulate.

Much longer sentences are the way forward so that someone knows they are going to prison for a minimum of 20 years if they commit the offence.

Zzzzzz. It has been proved countless times that this doesn't work. Long prison sentences do not usually make otherwise normal members of society behave better (and they invariably don't work for regular criminals either).

This woman is not a bank robber, unrepentant serial rapist or big time drug trafficker from whom society should be protected; she made an error of judgement, albeit one with very serious consequences. Putting her behind bars for 5 or 10 years or more will help no-one.

While I think longer driving bans should be used, life bans won't work as a deterrent. Spend the money on education and cops, not prisons.

Avatar
Stumps replied to Simon E | 9 years ago
0 likes
Simon E wrote:
stumps wrote:

Banning people for life is not the answer as its nigh on impossible to regulate.

Much longer sentences are the way forward so that someone knows they are going to prison for a minimum of 20 years if they commit the offence.

Zzzzzz. It has been proved countless times that this doesn't work. Long prison sentences do not usually make otherwise normal members of society behave better (and they invariably don't work for regular criminals either).

This woman is not a bank robber, unrepentant serial rapist or big time drug trafficker from whom society should be protected; she made an error of judgement, albeit one with very serious consequences. Putting her behind bars for 5 or 10 years or more will help no-one.

While I think longer driving bans should be used, life bans won't work as a deterrent. Spend the money on education and cops, not prisons.

Your completely wrong, having spent over 25 years dealing with and speaking with these sort of people the thing that the criminal doesn't want is to spend a long time in prison. In the current climate that doesn't happen with the sentencing guidelines meaning very few got a decent sentence.

Not that i would do it but being aware that i WOULD got to prison, and not just a possibility, for drink driving would defo make me think before drink driving. However there are people in this world who are to thick for it to make any difference at all.

I'm pretty sure if you were to ask people on the forum if they agreed with a huge prison sentence for the death of someone they would readily agree.

Also any sort of disqualification is very hard to Police as only a few Police vehicles have an ANPR fitted to them and a dizzy driver can drive past a cop with almost impunity.

Avatar
Simon E replied to Stumps | 9 years ago
0 likes
stumps wrote:

I'm pretty sure if you were to ask people on the forum if they agreed with a huge prison sentence for the death of someone they would readily agree.

Ha ha, a cheap trick! That's like a UKIP politician canvassing unemployed people in an area with high immigration. We all have opinions but most of us are far from unbiased and are often poorly informed (and I don't just mean Daily Mail readers) on such a serious issue. Your working experience may actually make it more difficult for you to have a detached, reasoned perspective on the treatment and rehabilitation of offenders.

If prison works then why are reoffending rates so high? Why do we have so many persistent offenders and hardened criminals?
http://open.justice.gov.uk/reoffending/overall-reoffending/

Or consider this scenario: your wife made an error of judgement while driving home from a long shift or another journey (it would be a very unusual driver who claimed he/she has never done so) and caused a serious crash. Would you feel that 5 or 10 years in prison was appropriate?

Avatar
Pub bike replied to Simon E | 9 years ago
0 likes
Simon E wrote:

Or consider this scenario: your wife made an error of judgement while driving home from a long shift or another journey (it would be a very unusual driver who claimed he/she has never done so) and caused a serious crash. Would you feel that 5 or 10 years in prison was appropriate?

If someone knows they’re too tired to drive, they’re knowingly putting others at risk by then driving.

If someone is too tired to drive, but then they’re unaware that they’re too tired, that is a worse condition, and they need to consider their overall fitness to drive. In these circumstances people need to be prepared to get a taxi, or take public transport.

Avatar
severs1966 | 9 years ago
0 likes

Lying to protect herself (about the clothing) is evidence that she does not feel remorse, because it is an act of selfishness.

And what relevance is there if this is an "aberration"? It is not permitted to have such an aberration. That's the whole point of the law. The rest of us don't, so why should this offender be allowed to have one?

Far too light a sentence. Once again, the legal system tells us that it is acceptable to kill, providing you use a car as the weapon, and preferably kill someone while they are on a bicycle.

Avatar
Beefy | 9 years ago
0 likes

in attempting to mittergate her actions by claiming the rider was not wearing reflective clothing (a lie) does not sound like remorse! She will be free in just over two years. Justice ?

Avatar
gazza_d | 9 years ago
0 likes

I hope the killer (cos that is what she is) thinks long and hard and chooses never to drive again.

And remember every day that she robbed a family and children of their wonderful charitable father and husband.

That would be a small gesture of genuine remorse.

Avatar
Flying Scot | 9 years ago
0 likes

Why should this person get another chance on the road, it wasn't a 'mistake' or a moments inattention, drunk, speeding, driving off.....

No way, life ban for all such things

Avatar
Russell Orgazoid | 9 years ago
0 likes

The genuine remorse these foolish drivers feel is for themselves being apprehended.
"I honestly thought I'd get away with drink-driving".

RIP Christian. You sound like a nice bloke. My deepest sympathy for your family.

Avatar
leewalton | 9 years ago
0 likes

Very tragic. My heart really goes out to Katie and the kids.

As for Mackie, the punishment seems too light, as is the case in many such cases.

Latest Comments