Driver fined £145 after head-on collision left cyclist with broken leg

Couple of things about the lost notebook:

1. We don't know what was in it.  I struggle to see what could have been in it to compromise a charge of failing to stop but leaving the careless driving intact but presumably there was something.  

2. As to whether a murder charge would have been dropped for a lost notebook, it depends what was in the notebook.  If a sufficiently important piece of evidence was in it then yes, a murder charge may have to be dropped over a lost notebook.  It is not a question of how important the charge is, it's a question of evidence.  If you don't have enough evidence then any charge, from littering to high treason, has to go.  I've personally seen drug dealing cases dropped for similar reasons.

3. We don't know whose fault it is that the notebook was lost.  It could be the officer whose notebook it was, it could be somebody at the store where an old, finished notebook was being kept.  It could be that the notebook came out of the officer's pocket during a subsequent struggle with a violent offender somewhere and was lost that way.  It could even be that the notebook was exhibited at a court case and lost by the court.  With so many thousands of police notebooks being used daily, just about anything can happen to them.  It's probably been lost by negligence, but only probably.  And not necessarily the offier's.

Ultimately, if a bench of magistrates are going to give what on the face of it (with all the usual caveats about unreliable court reporting) is a ridiculously low sentence for careless driving then having the extra charge was not likely to make it any more severe.

I'll bet that if a Police notebook was 'lost' during a murder inverstigation the CPS and the Police would find a way to bring about a prosecution if they wanted to!

"The cyclist, who is hoping to be back racing next month having now signed for Drops Cycling Team, endured six months of rehabilitation and is now pursuing a civil action against the driver’s insurers to cover ongoing treatment costs."

I wish her luck.

At the same time Martin Porter, QC, is bringing the first cyclists private prosecution for dangerous driving following the Police declining to take action.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/cyclist-brings-uks-first-...

If sucessful it could prove to be a ground breaking case.

From the Standard:

"Her solicitor, Jennifer Buchanan, of Fieldfisher, said the sentence was more lenient than others handed out the same day to drivers with bald tyres. "

Fast food.. it'll kill you.

As I said yesterday, in response to this on Facebook, it's not as if they skipped over her injuries. They did. Mostly. 

The charge is careless driving and, without any more information, it appears to fall into being that offence. So the question is how do you deal with an injury? There's no offence, yet, of causing serious injury by careless driving. There's a petition, of course. It has about 3500 signatures on it. Or, perspective, 70k less than one which asks for drivers to be limited to 15mph around horses. 

Injury is an aggravating factor in relation to a carless driving charge. Is the fine too low? We don't know what the facts are or what level the Magistrates decided the sentence fell into. 

But, for balance, the civil law claim, should she succeed on liability, is exclusively concerned with her injuries. 

Words fail me