Dad gets promise of tougher sentences

Maxwell Kusi Obodum • Published 3 Mar 2010 17:00 0 Comments

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Letter: Sentencing and sensibility

THE heartbroken father of a motorcyclist who died on a country road hopes he has paved the way for tougher sentences for killer drivers.

Caversham's Jim Alston met Justice Secretary Jack Straw in Westminster last Wednesday to lobby for changes to sentencing and compensation laws in road smashes.

Mr Alston's son, Bobby, 25, died in June 2008 when his Honda Fireblade was in collision with a Volvo car in Grazeley. Volvo driver Bozhidar Iliev, a carpenter of Tanhouse Lane, Wokingham, was jailed for 18 months, but when he was sentenced last July Mr Alston described the length of the jail term as an "insult" to his son.

Mr Straw told Mr Alston he would consider extending the minimum sentence for causing death by dangerous driving from two to five years and look at changing the Powers of Criminal Courts (Sentencing) Act 2000, to enable road traffic victims' families to claim compensation, including funeral expenses, from the driver responsible.

Mr Alston, of Dumbarton Way, said: "It's too late to change the law for us, or to change Mr Illiev's jail sentence, but this will hopefully ensure families aren't treated in the same way as us should they lose a loved one in the future."

Reading East MP Rob Wilson, who also attended the meeting, led a Westminster Hall debate on Tuesday last week, calling for stiffer sentences and an overhaul of the Act.

Mr Alston watched from the public gallery alongside Sandra Hudson, whose husband, Robert, was killed in Reading's Shinfield Road by unlicensed hit-and-run driver Mandy Lewis in December 2008.

Lewis, of Bramley Close, Ilford, was sentenced to 24 weeks in prison after pleading guilty to causing his death.

After the debate Mr Wilson said: "I sincerely hope that we are successful in bringing change to ensure other families do not have to feel as badly let down by our justice system."

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