Hit-and-run death crash pensioner jailed
Court told ‘Insomniac’ driver may have dozed off at the wheel
AN INSOMNIAC widower who may have ‘nodded off’ at the wheel before ploughing into and killing a pensioner as he walked home from the pub has been jailed.
Ian Whitworth was hit by Arthur Yate – who was working long hours in an attempt to pay off debt accrued by his late wife – as he made the short journey home from his local.
The 80-year-old was struck on a pedestrian crossing on Turves Road near the Ryecroft Arms in Cheadle Hulme.
Manchester Crown Court heard Yate, who did not stop following the smash, was working up to 48 hours a week as a night-time shelf-stacker at Sainsbury’s in Cheadle.
Yate, 69, was said to have been getting very little sleep - merely ‘cat-napping’ during the day.
AN INSOMNIAC widower who may have ‘nodded off at the wheel’ before ploughing into and killing a pensioner as he walked home from the pub has been jailed.
Ian Whitworth was hit by Arthur Yate – who was working long hours in an attempt to pay off debt accrued by his late wife – as he made the short journey home from his local.
The 80-year-old was struck on a pedestrian crossing on Turves Road near the Ryecroft Arms in Cheadle Hulme.
Manchester Crown Court heard Yate, who did not stop following the smash, was working up to 48 hours a week as a nighttime shelf-stacker at Sainsbury’s in Cheadle.
Yate, 69, lost his wife in 2015. Prosecuting, Rob Hall said he had been getting very little sleep and was merely ‘cat-napping’ during the day.
The court heard Yate was trying to pay off debts of £50,000 he acquired ‘indulging’ his wife’s wish to run a card-making business before her death.
Mr Whitworth, whose wife’s Alzheimer’s was worsening at the time of his death, had been drinking in the Ryecroft Arms when Yate ‘drove straight into him without braking’ on January 13. He was rushed to hospital, but died of his injuries.
Yate, who was late for work, was travelling between 32mph and 40mph, in a 30mph zone, when he hit Mr Whitworth. He did not stop at the scene and carried on to work.
The court heard Yate lied to colleagues about the route he had taken – even after being made aware of news reports about Mr Whitworth’s death.
Yate, who was arrested the following day, told police he had not realised he had hit Mr Whitworth.
He said he thought damage to his car – including a smashed windscreen – had been caused by a stone. Yate, of Larkswood Drive, Stockport, pleaded guilty to causing death by careless driving and failing to stop at the scene of a collision at an earlier hearing.
He was jailed for eight months and banned from driving for 15 years and eight months. Yate already had nine points on his licence.
Adrian Farrow, defending, said Yate’s fatigue was ‘not just the result of one night, but was cumulative over a period of two years’.
“He has shown, in every demonstrable way, his sincere remorse,” he added.
“Lying behind this offence is his own, entirely separate, family tragedy. The picture is of a man driving himself as hard as he possibly can in his life after the tragedy of his loss.
“In doing so, he has caused the death of another man, whose life has many parallels to that of Mr Yate. He finds it impossible to explain why he didn’t recognise himself the enormity of what had happened. He is not a cowardly man. But it is eternally to his regret and shame.
“He needs no reminder, no deterrent. He will punish himself for the rest of his days.”
Judge Bernadette Baxter said: “This is a truly tragic case of a thoroughly decent, hard-working, devoted man having had his life taken by the driving of another thoroughly decent, hard-working man, who now falls to be sentenced for his criminal carelessness.”
Judge Baxter told Yate: “It is clear from CCTV footage you simply did not see him.
“Whether that was because you nodded off, or were simply in your own world because of grief and worry, we will never know.
“You say you didn’t know you had hit a person. I do not accept you didn’t know something significant and dreadful had happened.
“It might have been that you panicked or you were not able to allow yourself to accept the gravity of what had happened.”