This story beggars belief. Jack Powell was 18, and had passed his test a mere two weeks earlier. He was busy following the script those of his kind live their lives by, and “lost control” of his Renault Clio on a bend.
Just as an aside, there is a massive statistical blip in the accident figures which explains why 17-24 year olds pay sky-high insurance premiums. The most common accident this group experiences is:
- on a bend
- at night
- on a rural road
- more than one occupant in the car
- no other car involved
In Powell’s case, only the “at night” one was missing from his performance. Unfortunately, although no other car actually caused Powell to lose control, another car did bear the brunt of his pathetic driving skills after he’d lost it.
Kiri Jade Hodgkinson, 14, was a front seat passenger in Powell’s car. She died at the scene. Powell smashed into a Renault Megane travelling the opposite way and this resulted in the death of the passenger, Barbara Ford, 67. A 13-year old girl in the back seat of Powell’s car broke both legs and an ankle. In any right-minded country, Powell would now be looking for ways to justify that he be allowed a PlayStation to while away the hours of a substantial jail sentence. Instead:
Today magistrates handed him a 12 month Community Order with 250 hours unpaid work. He was also given a nine month curfew and a five year disqualification from driving, with an order to have an extended retest before being allowed a return to driving.
Comments by the Police are notable for the absence of any indication that they are happy with this outcome.
This rubbish driver has effectively got away with killing two people. They should have locked him up and thrown away the key. He’s effectively a killer.