Driver who killed cyclist on London Quietway jailed for eight years

I did wonder hypothetically, when this was first reported, whether if I were to rob a bank or something, or maybe let loose my armies of orcs to enslave the world (apologies for the nerdism), I could say  “I go to church and do charity work” in mitigation.  (Just at Christmas and Easter, and a very little bit of volunteering,  but no need to tell them that ...)

But I am suspicious that this  only works for offences committed while driving.  As St Chris of Boardman says, crime while driving isn’t regarded as “real” crime.  It seems that anyone, even the killer driver Dr Helen Measures, could do it.  But they’re “otherwise law abiding”  (further apologies to the contributor from whom l ripped this off, can’t remember who it was) so no big deal.

"It came out of nowhere", she couldn't even say that "He.."

I do find it odd that motorists believe that we can dematerailise at will and for some reason choose to rematerialise in front of them.  Surely if I had super powers and could defy the laws of physics I might chose to teleport to my destination, like getting home when it was raining really hard on Tuesday evening, or at the very least ignore a bit of gravity on the way up big hills, and perhaps add to it on the way down. Wheeee!

Or the ability to transform steel and aluminium into titanium, at will of course, I am aware of Midas's foolish mythical wish.

I am also guessing there is a possibility of there might just be a further civil proceding, what with a lawyer being injured by a seemingly rich, innatentive driver, and already with a driving offence convicted.

What's this driver got to smile about?

https://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/newslondon/porsche-driver-broke-lawyers-s...

I cycle past this point every day. Very soon after this incident a white bicycle was fixed to the sign post at this junction in memory of Mr. Marchesini and flowers and a message had been attached. I stopped to read the message and was passed by a scaffolding van and a black Audi (being driven at speed) both of which were being driven the wrong way down this one way street. It would seem that it was not just Mr. Richardson who couldn't care less about the safety of cyclists.

Killer driver Gail Purcell, let the internet never forget! Not to be confused with killer driver Dr Helen Measures 

Do you mean killer driver gail purcell?

"Did not see" is a euphamism for "did not look"

I still don't understand how "did not see" is any kind of defence. To my mind it is an admission that you shouldn't be driving and should lead to a complete driving ban. There's a reason that blind people aren't allowed to get a driving license.

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8 years, out in 4 is ridiculously lenient.

Only if the parole board agree which is not a given with his previous record. A lifetime ban, while a good idea, is unlikely to deter this individual.

The word scum is often over-used these days but is the only word that comes to mind when reading about the behaviour of Reuben Richardson, both on the night in question, and his previous criminal history. I doubt the four years and parole will do much to rehabilitate him into society. It would probably be more practical to mandate all dealerships of high-powered cars to refuse to sell them to anyone with a criminal record or any kind of motoring offence, because the majority of these type of people are about 30-40 years too late to be educated into being a half decent human being.

If you get 8 years for killing someone while driving the wrong way, while on the phone, while having no driving licence or insurance and then doing a runner and abandoning the car to try and evade justice, what exactly do you have to do to get the full tariff of 14 years?

8 years, out in 4 is ridiculously lenient. Should be at least 20 years, the guy killed another human being because he didn't give a toss about anyone else except himself.

He'll be out in 4 years and allowed to drive again. A few years ago the government promised a review of all motoring offences. Needless to say it never happened, just some nonsense about a new law against cycling dangerously to placate Daily Mail readers. In the meantime, the death toll for cyclists continues to mount, unnoticed by, and of no concern to our useless government.

Maximum is 14 years so given there's a discount for pleading guilty this is a pretty strict sentence.

A reasonable sentence for killing a cyclist, even if the list of aggravating factors might have indicated something higher.  Not sure what the maximum sentence could be in a case this serious with this many offences committed at once.