‘Just one look would have meant my dad would still be alive’
PENSIONER KILLED FOLLOWING CRASH WITH CARELESS DRIVER
A PENSIONER had his life “stolen” from him by a driver who “should have looked twice”.
Derick Robinson, 68, was killed in a crash on the A164 between Hutton Cranswick and Driffield on August 15, 2019, after the car he was in was hit by Frederick Smyth, 27, of Sunderland Wick in Driffield.
Farmer Smyth was leaving work when he collided with Mr Robinson’s daughter’s car at around 6.25pm.
Although Mr Robinson and his daughter had no visible injuries, they were taken to Hull Royal Infirmary to be assessed. Soon after, Mr Robinson lost his life.
Hull Crown Court heard on Friday that Mr Robinson had an undiagnosed tumour, which ruptured on impact with his seatbelt when the car he was in was hit.
Laura Marshall, prosecuting, said: “Mr Robinson’s daughter described seeing the car being driven by him [Smyth]. It stopped and observed the traffic and when she was coming up to the entrance he pulled his vehicle out.
“She described having just enough time to think ‘ **** .’ His car struck his to the side and she recalls checking on her father to see if he was OK.”
Smyth called the emergency services and checked on Mr Robinson and his daughter. Both had no visible injuries, but were taken to hospital to be assessed, where Mr Robinson tragically died.
In an emotional victim impact statement read out to the court, his daughter, who was with him during the collision, told how she has had to undergo counselling and now has to pass the scene of the crash every day to get to work.
His other daughter bravely read her statement out to the court and told how her father’s life and future had been stolen by someone who was “careless”.
She addressed Smyth and said: “I had to see him on a trolley in the mortuary and agree to two post mortems before the funeral.
“You stole my children’s grandfather. You stole my dad from me. There is nothing that can be done now that will change what happened.
“You never set out that night to kill someone, but you were careless. Just one look would have meant my dad would be alive.”
Paul Richard Greeney, mitigating, told the court of Smyth’s remorse and said: “I should start off by saying that he acknowledges in full the outcome of his actions. He takes responsibility and is apologetic.
“As Mr Robinson’s daughter said, anyone can say sorry, but what the family should know as the people within the criminal justice system who have been described as hardened by it have been struck by his remorse.
“The probation officer said he presented as deeply remorseful, not just by the words he spoke, but the way he spoke them.
“He says he cannot imagine the hurt they are experiencing due to his actions. He says he feels terrible, not just for him, but everyone connected.”
Judge David Tremberg said he sentenced Smyth, who had no previous convictions, on the basis that the incident was out of character.
He said: “You have expressed great deal of regret and as well deep-seated and genuine remorse.”
The judge handed Smyth an 18-month community order and told him he must complete 160 hours of unpaid work. He has also been disqualified from driving for a year. a as
HULL-LIVE.CO.UK
RESIDENTS must redouble their efforts to stop the Kent coronavirus variant now accounting for 97 per cent of new cases in Hull and the East Riding, a council public health lead has said.
East Riding Council’s public health director, Andy Kingdom, said recent outbreaks in local businesses and Humber Prison had shown how quickly the new coronavirus strain could spread.
He added it was now “dominant” in both the East Riding and Hull, where it accounts for about 95 per cent of all new cases. Mr Kingdom’s comments come as the NHS has also introduced a new system, which has so far seen about 2,500 people in the East Riding added to shielding lists.
The director said they and an estimated further 2,500 to be added next week would be in line to receive vaccinations sooner.
Mr Kingdom said: “There were 407 people in the East Riding infected with coronavirus from February 9 to February 15.
“It’s not below 400 as I was hoping, a couple of workplace outbreaks and one at Humber Prison kept our numbers up.
“There were more than 50 cases in Humber Prison alone and Public Health England teams have since stepped in.
“But it shows how explosive the Kent variant of coronavirus can be, it results in more cases more quickly than the earlier strain.
“What we would have gotten away with before we no longer can, there’s no headroom left now, we’ve got to get this right.
“Rates among our elderly population particularly have continued to fall and we’re expecting further drops in the next ten days.
“But it’s unclear how much of that is to do with lockdown and how much is to do with the vaccine.”
Mr Kingdom said concerns over the now despite locally dominant Kent strain, public health officials were becoming more confident vaccines would still work against it.
The director said: “The rise of the new strain is the course we expected this to take.
“The Kent strain’s the king of the castle here now, but it’s competing with others and it’s a race to see which one gets into people’s bodies the quickest and they can’t all get in.
“There may well be more strains by the autumn, but as long as we keep vaccinating people, the numbers will come down because we’re pretty sure the vaccine works against it.
“But it might be the case that we have to give people booster jabs in the autumn.
“We’re going to be living with some form of coronavirus for years and we’re going to have to find ways of coping with it.
“I hope it will be milder and affect us more like flu or measles does so we won’t need these shutdowns.”
Mr Kingdom said some residents with underlying health conditions could now be asked to shield after the NHS introduced a new scoring system to determine those who qualify.
Around 15,000 people had been asked to shield before the introduction of the new system, according to official data.
He said: “The new system takes into account several factors, like people’s existing conditions, obesity, ethnic background and other factors which we now know affect them more seriously.
“Those factors are then added together and if they reach a certain score it will push that person up into priority group six, meaning they’ll get a vaccination letter.
“So, it’s not the case that if you just have asthma, for example, you’ll be pushed up, but if you have that and there are other factors too then you will.”
Mr Kingdom said next week would be “really important” ahead of Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s expected statement on lockdown going forward today.
The director said: “The Prime Minister needs to send the right signals, this needs to be about being able to cope with coronavirus for as long as possible, but without the punishing element of strict lockdowns.
“We’re still going to need to take the treatment for a little longer, it’s like being on a course of antibiotics, you have to stick it out until the end even if it feels like it’s not working.
“The council is here to help anyone struggling to shield for income or other reasons, we’re aware that we’re all in the storm together, but we’re not in the same boat.
“If you have family to support you, a well-paid job, a home and good internet then you can shield and work from home without issue.
“But if you’re a single parent with a gig-type job living in a rented flat then it’s going to be more difficult, we can’t take a laissezfaire approach.
“I’d also like to see the Test and Trace system become more local, when we’ve had access to local data we’ve been able to get on top of outbreaks much quicker and target messages to specific areas we know about.
“I’m much more confident about things than I was before, but this is up for grabs now.
“The tug of war between us and the virus is going our way, but we all need to pull together.”