DEATH ON THE ROADS
Michael James Bradford, killed 12 January 2001
"Until it happens to you, no one can understand the devastating impact that the actions of one person can have on your life. This person, a driver, who decided that the law can be broken because they don’t think anyone will care.
There were three witnesses who saw the driver go through a red light. But he was never charged with causing Michael’s death. He was also disqualified and had no insurance. The driver, his passenger and two friends lied in their statements and at the inquest, and still nothing was done. Therefore we decided to find out why no one was taking these crimes seriously.
We found ourselves having to take an intensive course on the laws surrounding road death and injury. The more we went into them, the more bewildered and angry we became. I had to read 180 pages of medical notes, the post-mortem report and the witness statements because I had to know what I was talking about when we approached various agencies with our concerns and complaints.
Till the day I die the words from these reports will be in my head. I know in minute detail how my son died.
There were 27 points of concern, one of which was the investigation into the speed. Michael was thrown 25ft and his injuries were horrific. The police said the driver was doing 20mph, but the neurosurgeon said it was more likely to be 40mph because of the enormity and severity of Michael’s injuries.
When we raised this issue we were told that the speed was calculated by ‘mean’ from the witness assumptions of speed. We therefore argued that the speed should have been recorded as inconclusive.
We feel the law is there to protect the guilty, and to hell with the victims. We were never told of the six-month rule for bringing a charge of ‘Driving without due care and attention’. It took 15 months before we were officially told about this by the CPS - but considering that the inquest was seven months after Michael died, this rule is incomprehensible.
We spent almost two years trying to get satisfactory answers to our questions, but never did. We did manage to get the driver to court, not for killing Michael, but for licence offences. We were told by the CPS that they can indefinitely adjourn the licence offences but they couldn’t keep the charge of killing Michael by negligent driving indefinitely adjourned, because it would be against the driver’s human rights. But where are my son’s and our rights?
What was once a normal family has been changed forever. Michael still lives in every room of our home, his pictures, his belongings, his presence and our memories. I look out the window and see Michael as a young boy playing with friends. I see him playing football in the park. I see the water fights in the summer, the laughter, the squabbles, the little boy turning into a young man.
The devastating pain we feel when we realise that there can never be any new memories. There is a huge gaping wound in our family that will be there forever. And what really hurts is that knowing if this driver had just obeyed the law, he would still be with us now."
Christine Bradford, Michael's mother.
Kate Doyle, Fatally injured 30 May 1995
"Where to begin? It will be nine years this May since my only beloved and cherished daughter Kate was knocked down on a zebra crossing in
Bristol .
She was the victim of a hit and run driver, who it turned out had been banned from driving on 29th March 1995, just two months prior to the crash. Kate died five days later from injuries to the brain. We agreed to the life support machine being switched off.
We were told by the policeman dealing with our case that, “whoever had done this would go down for a long time”. In the event we were informed about 10 days before the court case ( Magistrates Court) that charges relating to the manner of driving were being dropped as they felt they had insufficient evidence.
No mention was made of Kate’s death in the court – just the words “…and you were in collision with a Miss Doyle”. I was so angry that I stood up and objected – I was threatened with contempt of court and the case adjourned for three weeks for reports.
When the court had been adjourned for sentencing I rushed in and sat in the Clerk’s chair and refused to move till I got justice. About 10 or so policemen came in and threatened to arrest me and told me I would be escorted from the court, so would not be present at the sentencing.
The defendant was sentenced to six months prison for road traffic offences only – driving whilst banned, failing to stop, failing to report a crash; no penalties for no insurance and no MOT.
After nine years the impact continues to reverberate. Our grief and cataclysmic loss has affected each of us. My husband and I sold our restaurant at a considerable loss because I could no longer cope with the demands it made of me.
My son, who was 21 at the time, was diagnosed with post-traumatic-stress syndrome, and has suffered with severe depression. He has found it particularly difficult to come to terms with the great, great sense of injustice and has lost any respect for the law.
My husband and I have decided to go our different ways, after 37 years together. Our relationship has been broken by the impact - especially the toll of dealing with the injustice, which has made our loss even more unbearable.
Kate was 24 – a law graduate hoping to specialise in family law. She was our joy, the light of our life, so loved, so kind, so loving."
Sarah Doyle, Kate's mother
Joel Clyde Fountain, killed on 13 June 2000
"Our son, is the most beautiful person I have ever met and I feel privileged to have been blessed with his company and care for 22 years. He was reserved, extremely humorous, considerate, polite, generous, helpful, responsible, conscientious, affectionate, intelligent, fit, and attractive with a huge smile. He was full of energy and enterprise, full of warm blood, made up of warm flesh, moving bones and muscle. He was a very special person and all who met him were hooked.
On June 13 2000 he attended the first Euro 2000 football match in Eindhoven Holland to watch play . He had such a memorable day. There was John (father), John (father’s friend), Joel and Ben (Joel’s friend).
They’d celebrated in the square, had their photos taken and signed the huge football. Despite ’s loss it had been the most peaceful Euro football match on record and I was relieved to go to bed happy, knowing they were safe.
Joel had left me a message earlier on the answer phone to tell me that he’d got a ticket and he was in the ground and that he would phone me again when he’d gone home – he sounded so excited!
Russ, another friend, had driven in to meet them though he’d not been to the match. A last minute decision for them to get out of his father’s car and take a lift in Russ’s car against his father’s better judgement lost him his life. They all walked to the corner and Joel turned to his father and waved saying, ‘See you later, Dad’.
No one was aware that Russ had been drinking. Although they were excited they were tired and Joel wanted to go home – he had work in the morning. The next thing John knew was the knock on the door from the police. I had a phone call from John early morning. Joel had his whole life ahead of him. He had just met his first girlfriend – Annemieke. He had just planned to visit relations in and seeing some of the world out there.
Joel was loved by all and as he is the first born of a string of first-borns named J Fountain, that has now stopped. John is the oldest of seven of a close family and they have all been seriously affected by their loss.
Joel's name means ‘celestial traveller’ - that’s his job now.
Joel’s death has left John and I with shattered lives and no future, as he was our only child. We suffered the indignity and trauma of the inquest, the court hearing of the driver in
Holland and the case which the solicitor took on.
We received no money as compensation because Joel was over 21- years - old. We have suffered mental and physical illness due to the trauma, yet cannot claim anything and are just expected to carry on.
The only thing Joel ever did wrong in his life was get into the wrong car."
Lynn-Marie Fountain, Joel's mother.
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