Widow weeps at sentence delay

The heartbroken widow of a police officer wept after being told the man who killed him had avoided being sentenced – for a FOURTH time.

Pensioner Leonard Pettifer was at the wheel of his car when he drove the wrong way along the M20, causing the death of motorcyclist Michael Copleston.

Twice last week, Pauline Cople- ston had arrived at Canterbury Crown Court expecting 86-yearold Pettifer to be sentenced for his dangerous driving.

But after hearing by video link from a doctor that Pettifer, from Snargate Lane, Snargate, risked a cardiac arrest if he attended the hearing, Judge Heather Norton reluctantly adjourned the sentencing again.

But she told Pettifer’s barrister, that while she had a duty of care for the defendant, she still had “concerns that this court is somehow being manipulated”.

After the hearing Judge Norton told the widow: “I fully understand your distress.”

Mrs Copleston, said: “My daughter has driven nine hours from Scotland with three children [to attend the hearing].

“I just can’t believe how he [Pettifer] keeps getting away with it. I’m on tablets, everybody’s on tablets. I just can’t believe this.

“To be frank, I don’t want to be here anymore. I’ve had enough. I lost my husband, to someone who should never have been driving in the first place because of his eyesight.

“My husband worked for the Metropolitan Police, training the Royal Protection squad for the Queen.

“I had a letter of condolence from the [Scotland Yard] Commissioner and from the American Embassy where he worked after retiring.

“He was an attache defence chauffeur and they had a minute’s silence. He was respected and I had a letter from the United States ambassador. My husband wasn’t just an ordinary person.

“Now I have lost my best friend, my husband and a grandfather... everything.”

Mrs Copleston told the judge: “There are lots of people in their 80s in prison. Why can’t this guy face up to his responsibilities, instead of going to the doctors at the last minute.

“Justice should be done.”

Pauline Copleston with her husband Michael, and, right, Judge Heather Norton, who reluctantly adjourned sentencing Leonard Pettifer