DRUG-FUELLED DEATH CRASH DRIVER LOCKED UP
TRAGIC VICTIM, 58, WAS CROSSING ROAD WHEN HE WAS HIT BY SPEEDING CAR
A MAN urged to stop cycling and take the bus because it was ‘safer’ was killed by a speeding driver after getting off a bus.
Kerry Wester was crossing Binley Road in Coventry when he was hit by Bradley Costello’s car which was doing over 50mph in a 30mph zone just moments before the fatal collision.
Costello was found to have cocaine and cannabis in his system and also had two children in his car when it struck Mr Wester.
A judge said that Costello showed “breathtaking arrogance and utter contempt for the rules of the road” and jailed him for four years and ten months after the 32-year-old pleaded guilty to causing death by careless driving when the quantities of cannabis and a cocaine derivative were over the legal limits.
He had initially denied the charge for over two years before eventually changing his plea.
Costello, of Coombe Avenue, Binley, was also banned from driving for seven years and five months.
Prosecutor Peter Mccartney said the tragic collision took place at 7.15pm on an evening in November 2018 after 58-year-old Mr Wester had got off a bus in Binley Road.
Costello was driving a Vauxhall Insignia away from the city centre, with his partner’s teenage daughter next to him and a friend of hers in the back.
As he reached a point just past the junction with Raleigh Road, where Binley Road widens to two lanes in each direction, he accelerated to overtake a Hyundai car in front of him.
At the point Mr Wester, who had been checking the traffic for several seconds, began to cross the road from the nearside, Costello’s view of him was obscured by the Hyundai at that time.
But he would have been clearly visible by the time he reached the second lane.
Mr Mccartney said: “He was doing 53mph as he began to overtake and braked heavily just prior to the impact which was at just under 50.
“Mr Wester was hit with sufficient force to throw him in the air and he received injuries from which he could not survive.”
Mr Wester, a single man, was very dear to family members described as cousins, and one, Kaleem Butt, said: “He lived his life the way he wanted. He relied on us for support emotionally.”
Mr Butt said Mr Wester was a talented artist and ‘an independent soul’ who did a lot of voluntary charity work. And he added: “I had encouraged him to stop riding his bike home because it was getting dark. I said it would be safer to get the bus, and it was after getting off a bus that he was hit by a car.”
Jailing Costello, Recorder Jacob Hallam told him: “Even though you were driving with children in the car, you had consumed both cannabis and cocaine in the hours before you drove.
“Mr Wester had got off a bus on his way home. He had been encouraged to travel by that mode of transport for safety reasons.
“He had been using his bicycle, but as the nights were drawing in it was felt by those who cared for him that a bus was the safer way to get around.
“The speed limit in Binley Road is 30mph, but you, with children in your car and cocaine and cannabis in your system, were driving at 53mph. You braked when you saw Mr Wester and struck him at 44mph – 14mph over the speed limit.
“You showed breathtaking arrogance and utter contempt for the rules of the road. Your vehicle struck him with a truly terrible force, throwing him in the air and over your vehicle. He stood no chance at all of surviving the collision.
“You pleaded not guilty in August 2019, and that remained the position for the rest of 2019 and the whole of 2020. For over two years Kerry Wester’s family and friends have been in a state of emotional limbo waiting for this to be resolved.”
Gary Short, speaking for Costello, said: “Over two years ago now this man took another man’s life.
“He did not set out to cause anyone harm that night, it was a consequence of his decision to drive too fast. He is sorry for what he did and for the consequences of what he did.”