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news
Broken bike (CC licensed image by garryknight, www.flickr.com)Drunk driver who killed cyclist launched petition calling for compulsory cycle helmets
A drunk driver who killed an Oxfordshire cyclist in a hit and run incident last June, then told police her car had been stolen, subsequently launched a petition calling for it to be compulsory for people on bikes to wear cycle helmets, it has emerged.
Maria Sutton from Cholsey, aged 27, was remanded in custody at Oxford Crown Court earlier this month pending sentencing after admitting causing the death through careless driving while over the legal alcohol limit of Dr Graham Ruecroft from Wallingford.
Dr Ruecroft died in Oxford’s John Radcliffe Hospital five days after he had been struck by a car driven by Sutton on 4 June last year while he rode home from Cholsey station. Opening and adjourning an inquest, Coroner Darren Salter said that the 55-year-old had died from brain injuries.
Sutton, aged 27, fled the scene of the fatal collision, but was arrested by Thames Valley Police the following day. She initially claimed to officers that her car had been stolen but at Oxford Crown Court on 23 December last year pleaded guilty to perverting the course of justice.
At the same court, in February this year she admitted causing death by careless driving but denied being over the drink-drive limit. In a further appearance on 5 April, she changed her plea to guilty on the more serious charge, which carries a maximum penalty of 14 years’ imprisonment.
It appears that at some point between those court appearances in December and February, she posted a petition to the website Change.org under the title “Make it law for a cyclist to wear a helmet.”
The petition, which has attracted 15 signatures, was posted three months ago, according to Change.org – no precise date is given – meaning it is likely to have been lodged at some point in January.
On the petition’s page on Change.org, Sutton said:
I think it should be a legal requirement for a cyclist to wear a helmet and fluorescent clothing! As a driver it's illegal not to wear a seatbelt and receive a fine. Cyclists should have the same responsibility. I have been involved in an accident with a cyclist and he unfortunately died. He wasn't wearing a helmet or reflective clothing and had flashing lights.
She did not mention that she had already pleaded guilty to perverting the course of justice, nor that she had been charged on 16 September last year of causing the cyclist’s death through careless driving while over the drink-drive limit.
The petition was closed on Change.org over the weekend, apparently after the website was told about the circumstances of the case.
Sutton is due to be sentenced on 17 May at Oxford Crown Court.
None of the local press reports of her court appearances to date that road.cc has been able to trace disclose details of any aggravating circumstances raised by the prosecution, nor any mitigating factors that the defence may have put forward on her behalf.
The defendant’s remorse – or lack of it – is one of the issues that can influence the length of sentence handed down.
As we reported at the weekend, the victim’s family have launched their own petition, also on Change.org.
> Hit-and-run victim's family calls for tougher sentencing
It is addressed to the Justice Secretary Michael Gove and Leeds North West MP Greg Mulholland, whose Criminal Driving (Justice for Victims) Private Members’ Bill is due to receive its second reading in the House of Commons this Friday.
In February, Lord Berkeley, who is secretary of the All Party Parliamentary Cycling Group, raised concerns that a review of charging and sentencing in cases where a motorist has killed a vulnerable road user would not now go ahead and would instead be rolled into a wider review of criminal sentencing.
> Has the government's promised driving offences review been shelved?
Simon joined road.cc as news editor in 2009 and is now the site’s community editor, acting as a link between the team producing the content and our readers. A law and languages graduate, published translator and former retail analyst, he has reported on issues as diverse as cycling-related court cases, anti-doping investigations, the latest developments in the bike industry and the sport’s biggest races. Now back in London full-time after 15 years living in Oxford and Cambridge, he loves cycling along the Thames but misses having his former riding buddy, Elodie the miniature schnauzer, in the basket in front of him.
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31 comments
What hit me most in reading this was that in the text she posted on change.org she stated he "had a flashing light" . . so SHE SAW HIM ! He was clearly visible, but not wearing "high vis" og which there is so much at the roadsides today with yellow signs, yellow adverts to catch your eye, men working on the road that actually a cyclist in high vis may well in areas belend into all the other "high vis" crap there is.
If someone can borrow the key once she's locked up I have an angle grinder we can use to ensure it NEVER works again.
Ohh. Was going to go and have some fun on the petition page, but its closed.
Maybe they should make driving whilst pissed illigal. Oh, hang on...
Maybe they should make it illegal to leave the site of an accident. Oh, hang on...
Maybe they should make it illegal to lie to the police. Oh, hang on...
No, it was the cyclist not wearing a half-inch piece of polystyrene and being prefectly visible, just not in bright yellow that caused this bint to kill him.
Amazing how many people claim not to know that is illegal.
http://www.standard.co.uk/news/crime/half-of-hitandrun-drivers-did-not-know-it-was-illegal-study-finds-a3228261.html
Luckily ignorance of the law is no defence.
This effort seems to me like a potential breach of the Contempt of Court Act and I hope that the prosecution will consider that. It's not a traditional breach of the act - a report ahead of time reflecting on the likelihood or otherwise of the defendant's guilt - but it certainly seems like an effort to sway potential jurors as to the culpability or otherwise of her behaviour.
Aren't jurors only needed when the accused pleads not guilty
Like JACOBI above (after I calmed down a bit) have gone on to change org to sign the poor family's petition for tougher sentencing please everbody do the same.
If you view source you can see the created_at date for the petition:
"created_at":"2016-01-29T21:54:21Z"
Hand me the key, I'll hide it and it'll never be found. She's shown no remorse so either should we...
God help us if she has kids who turn out to be like her. Nature winning over nurture!
Never go on change.org to set up a new petition after a couple of glasses of wine: it'll never end well...
Un-fucking-believable. "I have been involved in an accident with a cyclist and he unfortunately died" she says. No Maria, you killed a cyclist with your car because you are a drunk and dangerous driver. What a utter fucking cunt she is.
Hang the bitch!!!!
Just signed the tougher sentencing petition in the link above.
It's well past time the court judges started showing a bit of backbone by handing out tougher sentences to motorists who kill people while driving recklessly or under the influence of drink or drugs.
One of those people where the world would have been genuinely better off if her father had just had a wank that night.
Or an argument in favour to increasing the legal termination period to 1500 weeks from the current limit of 24 .
No doubt like the driving, she'll claim someone else started the petition.
More likely that she'll claim it was started by the victim's family to fit her up...
Unless she's been very, very dumb and used her real address/contact details it would be difficult to prove that she actually set up the petition.
How do you think they know she set it up? lets face it her actions aren't those of intelligence.
What's interesting is that she could only persuade 15 people to sign it in 4 months
Or she signed it herself fifteen times using other people's details.
So, as long as one cyclist somewhere has got a helmet on, she'll be happy and we'll all be safer?! Great! I can cover 6-9 on Wednesday evening when I'm out on my road bike. Don't usually wear one for commuting so someone else will have to take the rest of the week.
Seriously though, what disgusting victim blaming nonsense from someone who clearly hadn't got the sense or decency to keep quiet when she needs to. If there was ever a case where the book needed throwing at someone, this is surely it.
I'd put her in the "very,very dumb" class and likely to have used her own name and address. If not, the police could get the IP address from which it was posted, if change.org hosting provider is compliant.
The really stupid thing she did though, was to drive off and say her car had been stolen.
Perverting the course of justice is seriously looked down upon by the judiciary.
Chris Huhne and his wife did significant jail time just because she took his speeding points.
Then just to make matters worse, she starts a petition and blames the victim for not wearing a helmet! Talk about thick.
Hope she gets significant jail time to encourage others and give her a chance to cogitate on why she lacks a moral compass....and a brain.
Sadly pretty standard thing to - particularly if you've been drinking. See also single vehicle crashes and calling a mate to give you a lift home - the aim being to be under the limit when eventually breathalyzed.
The other excuse used is "I drove off because the other party was angry and I feared for my safety" - particularly likely to get a sympathetic hearing if you're a single woman driving at night. Been in receipt of that particular excuse in a car on car crash in the past where I had to contact police to get their insurance details. Unless accident has resulted in death or serious injury hit and runs rarely result in points.
Has anyone informed the court authorities of this very conspicuous evidence that the killer shows not only no remorse, but is actually still hostile towards the deceased victim?
It may influence the otherwise very short sentence that they will hand down, which almost certainly will run conscurrently with the sentence for perverting the course of justice to ensure the least punishment possible, as courts tend to do when drivers kill bike riders.
Wait a minute, you say. How can we know that the courts will be so lenient?
Check the victim's family's Change.org petition. In this, it is reported that AFTER the killer pleaded guilty, they are still free with a tag on remand (not imprisoned on remand) despite the certainty of a custodial sentence.
A killer, who pleaded guilty, is still allowed their freedom.
Note that the court has the power to revoke any freedom-on-bail that might currently be in force; they choose not to. Such is the way the courts reagrd killing, when the victim is on a bike and the killer in a car.
You can be sure that, had the victim been a cop, the killer would not have been allowed out on bail in the first place.
How would you do that? I've filled in a crimestoppers online form, but is there a way to tell CPS or Oxford Crown Court?
Well, exactly. That's sort of what I mean. Does anyone know how to do this?
Simon, you won't trace any mitigation yet because the case has been put off for a Pre sentence report (because the sentence will be custodial or a community order). So we'll hear what they say in May.
As an aside the remand is a fairly good indication that it will be custody and likely quite a long stretch. It will be interesting to see whether the perverting the course of justice charge will run consecutively.
No words at all, very scary state of mind. Prime candidate for lifetime driving ban.
It may seem like nit-picking but this should read "Prime candidate for a lifetime revocation of Driving Licence."
'Ban' - The removal of a Right. i.e. You are banned from being out after dark; you are banned from associating with them; you are banned from the Town Centre.
'Revocation' - The removal of a Privilege. i.e. The privilege of having a TV in your room is revoked; you are not allowed to have a party while we are away (certainly not after last time!); your privilege of being able to drive a motor vehicle on the public highway is revoked.
Words have power and if we misuse them they lose their power. If we keep saying "Driving Ban" instead of "Licence Revocation" then we are reinforcing the motorist's belief that they have an inalienable right to drive on they public highway no matter what they do.
Any person who kills another through careless or dangerous driving must have their licence revoked for life as they are patently unfit to be behind the wheel.
Exactly this. Also, we shouldn't describe, or avoid challenging others who describe, the licence revocation as part of the punishment. It isn't, it is simply stopping someone doing a dangerous thing they have displayed an inability to do safely. The only punishment is the (probably light) prison or community service term.
An calm, logical and thoughtful way of looking at it. Having read the thankfully closed petition and being temporarily incapable of any of that right now, it is much appreciated and very welcome.
Louse
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