Husband spared jail over dead wife

Feb 1 2008 The Journal

A MAN who caused a crash which killed his wife was spared jail yesterday for the sake of their three young children.

Charles Lawrence pulled out of a lay-by into the path of oncoming traffic when he attempted a U-turn without warning.

His Vauxhall Corsa was hit on the front passenger side by another car, whose driver had no chance to avoid him, Newcastle Crown Court heard.

His wife Zoe, 25, suffered a broken neck and was killed instantly while Lawrence and the couple’s children – Bradley, six, Ellie, four, and Beth, two – escaped with just minor injuries.

The tragedy happened on February 4 last year on the A197 between Pegswood and Ashington in Northumberland as the family returned from a children’s birthday party.

The 27-year-old later told police that he and his wife – whom he described as his “soul mate” – had been having a minor argument when he pulled into the lay-by.

Lawrence, of Red House Farm Estate in Bedlington, had admitted at an earlier hearing causing his wife’s death by dangerous driving.

In a letter read out in court, he praised friends and relatives for their support during what he described as the “deepest, darkest depression imaginable”.

He said: “I was totally devastated by the loss of my wife Zoe. From the day we met, we were never apart from each other’s side for more than a couple of hours.

“We loved each very much and she was my soul mate. I doubt I shall ever meet anyone like her again.”

Lawrence was sentenced to 12 months in jail, suspended for two years, and banned from the roads for three years by Judge Beatrice Bolton, who said she accepted the offence was due to a “momentary loss of attention”.

Judge Bolton said an immediate prison term would ordinarily follow for such an offence but the exceptional circumstances of the case justified suspending the sentence.

She said sending Lawrence to jail would cause even more disruption to the lives of his children, who had clearly not got over the death of their mother.

“I am entitled to look not just at the effect on you, which is very much secondary to the children,” the judge said.

She told Lawrence: “Your three children were in the car. Happily they were not injured. Of course as they grow up, they will come to realise, however you want to put it, you are responsible for their mother’s death and they were there when she died.

“The offence of causing death by dangerous driving, as well you know, is a very serious offence. There are guidelines set out and it is a very exceptional case indeed when an immediate custodial sentence is not passed.

“What makes your case exceptional is you did not just deprive a loving family of their daughter, but deprived your own children of their mother.”

The judge praised the victim’s grieving family, whom she said had acted with great dignity. The court heard Lawrence has a previous conviction for dangerous driving in February 2000 when he was fined £100 and banned from driving for 12 months for overtaking a bus dangerously.

Tom Finch, defending, said that Lawrence had been deeply affected by the tragedy.

Neither Lawrence nor the relatives of the victim wished to comment after the hearing.