Cyclist Charlie Alliston jailed for 18 months over death of pedestrian
Alliston jailed over death of Kim Briggs, who sustained ‘catastrophic’ head injuries in east London collision last year
Damien Gayle
@damiengayle
Mon 18 Sep 2017 16.50 BST
A cyclist jailed for knocking over and killing a woman as he sped through
east London on a bike with no front brakes was told he was “an accident waiting to happen” as he received an 18-month sentence.
Charlie Alliston, 20, who collided with Kim Briggs as she crossed Old
Street, was told by judge Wendy Joseph QC at the Old Bailey that the victim “could have been any pedestrian” and that he had shown no remorse for her death.
“You have throughout sought to put your blame on her,” the judge said. “Perhaps one of the most shocking things about this case is that you could not and apparently cannot still see any fault in your cycling or judgment.“You chose to ride at a speed and on a bike which you could not stop, your attitude being that everyone else would just have to get out of
your way,” Joseph added. “Of course you did not set out to cause the harm you did – but the jury have found that you were aware of the risks and went on to take them.”
Kim Briggs widower: 'this is not about anti-cycling, it's about wrongdoing'
Alliston was travelling at 18mph on his secondhand fixed-gear bike on 12 February 2016 when he collided with Kim Briggs, 44, as she stepped out into
Old Street.
Briggs, a mother of two, who was on her lunch break, suffered “catastrophic” head injuries and died in hospital a week later.
Alliston was cleared of manslaughter but found guilty of causing bodily
harm by “wanton and furious driving”, a crime under the 1861 Offences Against the Person Act, which carries a maximum sentence of two years in
jail.
During the trial, jurors heard that Alliston, a fan of “dangerous” bike racing videos, had been riding a black Planet X carbon-frame track bike, a model more commonly seen ridden by top cyclists such as Sir Chris Hoy and
Laura Trott at the Olympic velodrome. Alliston had not fitted the bicycle
with a front brake, as is required to make them legal to ride on the road.
The judge said Alliston’s “whole manner of driving” caused the accident. “If your bicycle had a front-wheel brake you could have stopped, but on
this illegal bike, you could not. On your own evidence by this stage you weren’t even trying to slow or stop. You expected her to get out of your way.”
In mitigation, Mark Wyeth QC told the court that an apparent lack of
remorse shown by Alliston was a “coping strategy” derived from the loss of his father, who died of a heart attack in the bathroom of the family home
when Alliston was 16.
“It’s [pre-sentence report author] Ruth Smith’s opinion, having spent time
with the defendant and presenting this report to the court, that here we
have a young man who presents with emotional flatness,” Wyeth said.
Wyeth also told the court that, following the death of Briggs, Alliston
spent nine days in the Maudsley psychiatric hospital, south London, having
been taken there by police who had found him out alone with a rope,
apparently in preparation for a suicide attempt. Wyeth said this episode,
and Alliston’s repeated calls to the hospital after the collision to check
on Briggs’s condition, were evidence of the defendant’s remorse.
But Joseph, after reading the report for herself in court, said she saw no evidence that Alliston had shown remorse over the death of Briggs, “only self-interested fear as to the difficulties it is causing for you”.
While accepting that he had suffered mental ill health, including a
diagnosis of depression, she noted the documented causes were “stress at
the prospect of a trial, fear of being sent to prison, and upset at your girlfriend breaking off the relationship”, rather than regret over his actions.
Alliston, from Bermondsey, south London, had denied both charges against
him. He raised his eyebrows as Joseph passed sentence and showed no emotion
as he was led away to begin his sentence in a young offender institution.Briggs’ widower, Matthew, from Lewisham, south London, who was
in court to see Alliston jailed, has called for a “radical change” in cycling culture and the introduction of new laws, including the offence of causing death by dangerous cycling.
In a vicim impact statement, Matthew Briggs had earlier told the court of
the moment he had to tell his children that their mother was dying. “My children had to say goodbye to their mother as she lay in the intensive
care unit,” he said. “Our world fell apart. I lost my wife and my best friend.”
In a statement outside court, Briggs said: “This case has clearly and evidently demonstrated there is a gap in the law when it comes to dealing
with death or serious injury by dangerous cycling.
“To have to rely on either manslaughter at one end, or a Victorian law that doesn’t even mention causing death at the other end, tells us there is a
gap. The fact that what happened to Kim is rare is not a reason to have no remedy.”
Speaking outside the court, Alliston’s mother, Karan, said her son had been sentenced “appropriately” and thanked the judge for handling the case fairly.
“On behalf of my son Charlie and all his family we would like to express
our sincere condolences to the Briggs family for their loss,” she said. “We know that they bear the heaviest loss of all in this case.”
swldx...@gmail.com <
swldxer1958@gmail.com> wrote:
The court heard Mrs Ward's widower said their 50 years of marriage had
ended "in the most horrific way".
In an impact statement, the driver of the car that hit Mrs Ward said
there was "always a piece of me that feels guilty" and that her whole
life had "turned upside down" following the incident.
Mr Justice Griffiths said: "A blameless woman had been killed by the
unlawful act of [Grey] with devastating impact upon the family she left behind and upon others including the entirely blameless driver of the car."
He told the court the sentence passed "had to mark the gravity of the unlawful killing" while taking into account mitigating factors.
The sentencing judge Sean Enright had "placed very strong emphasis" on
Grey's disabilities, he said.
He added: "We do not consider that the recent psychology report calls for
a greater reduction than was already given in this respect by the judge."
Outside of court, Grey's brother-in-law Alisdair Luxmoore expressed their family's condolences to Mrs Ward's family, stating "our actions today
must diminish nothing from the suffering that they have had to endure".
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