10 months? should've been 10 years

[strop]

A MOTORCYCLIST was left lying 80 metres from his bike after a head-on smash with a sports car driving on the wrong side of the road.
Gareth Jenkins, 23, suffered multiple injuries after being struck by Michael Parslow’s Toyota MR2 as the sports car overtook three cars.
Parslow, 39, was jailed for 10 months at Oxford Crown Court on Monday after admitting dangerous driving.
Cathy Olliver, prosecuting, said the defendant, of Bernwood Road, Bicester, was driving on the A4095 between Kirtlington and Bicester when the crash happened near the B430 at 5.20pm on November 23.
Miss Olliver said Mr Jenkins saw three cars on the opposite carriageway before Parslow’s red MR2 started overtaking them.
Miss Olliver added: “By the time he realised it was going to hit him, he remembers braking and trying to raise himself high up on the bike. He remembers a crash and woke up on the ground.
“He said he was scared he was going to die.”
The rugby-playing rider broke vertebrae in his neck and back. Other injuries included a ruptured kidney, broken wrists and a fractured shoulder.
Judge Patrick Eccles said Mr Jenkins had “happily made a very substantial recovery” but could not now play contact sport.
Witnesses in the overtaken cars said they were travelling at between 45 and 50mph on the 60mph-limit road when Parslow came past.
Miss Olliver said one of the drivers recalled Parslow coming up fast behind her, adding: “He began to flash his lights and drove very close to the back of her car. At this point she could clearly see the motorcycle coming in the other direction.”
Mr Jenkins’ was found 78 metres from his bike, the wreckage of which was spread over 100m.
Parslow’s pre-sentence report recorded a “history of drug offending” between 1994 and 2003, including nine previous convictions for 14 offences. He was given an absolute discharge for driving while disqualified in 2002.
He was jailed for 10 months and banned from driving for three years. He must also take an extended driving test

Wow. 10 months?! What a load of bull****.

Wow. Considering his previous....wow.

Originally Posted by Milky Bar Kid

Wow. Considering his previous....wow.

+1
I could *understand* it if the bloke was a solictor himself living a respecatble life, but the guys sounds (or is portrayed) as scum so any oportunity to lock him up would be a good one.

What would be the max sentance this sort of thing could carry?
I dont know if 10months means he got the book or a let off.


Oh and as a very keen sports person, "a substantial recovery, but unable to play contact sport" is not a recovery at all. Im not far off retiering from competative football now, but to have it taken away from me is one of the things I fear the most. Poor guy was only 23, I played my best football around that age - gutted for him.

[Biker Biggles]

Cant really comment on this specific case,but it seems ludicrous that if the biker had died he would have gone down for six years.Why is it that exactly the same bit of **** driving gets a totally different punishment according to a chance outcome?

Shocking!! ok i understand to a point if he had not past convictions, and the same outcome, but being that he has previous, and the nature of the driving, 10 mths is rediculous!!!

Maximum sentence available for S2 of the Road Traffic Act 1988 is 2 years imprisonment.

in that case he should have gotten 2 years, simple.

[Luckypants]

It does seem quite light, but as he admitted the offence he gets an automatic 50% discount on his sentence IIRC, so he would have got 20 months had he contested the case and been found guilty. Seems to me he pleaded guilty as it was a clear cut case.

Still even 20 months seems light for something that could have killed the poor biker he hit. But these are the cases where sentencing seems out of kilter with the seriousness of the offence. With previous offences resulting in being disqualified and driving while disqualified, he maybe needed a harsher lesson in following the rules of the road.


EDIT: Seen MBK's post that max for the offence is 2 years prison. Given that he pleaded guilty then 12 months is the maximum he could have been given, so 10 months is a 'heavy' punishment for the offence, under current sentencing rules.

if he has if killed the biker, i assume he would be up for death by dangerous driving? what is the max sentance for that?