Death crash van driver is sent to jail
He went through red light and hit motorcyclist
A‘GROSSLY distracted’ van driver who hit and killed a motorcyclist has been jailed for seven years.
Kurt Sammon, 55, of Willow Avenue, Cheadle Hulme, who has an ‘appalling’ driving record, crashed into Louis McGovern, 30, after going through a red light at a junction in Hazel Grove.
Mr McGovern, a ‘kind’ and ‘thoughtful’ geo-technical engineer, was dragged under Sammon’s Ford Transit and died the following day.
Before the crash, Sammon had been using WhatsApp and reading and sending messages, as well as making a call
Sammon had previously admitted causing death by careless driving, but was unanimously convicted of causing death by dangerous driving after a trial.
In addition to his jail sentence he was banned from driving for 13 and a half years. Judge Maurice Greene said: “You had no regard for any road users.”
THE father of a motorcyclist killed by a van driver ‘grossly distracted’ at the wheel after using his phone wants stricter punishments.
Kurt Sammon, of Cheadle Hulme, who had been involved in a fatal crash 15 years earlier when he hit a 13-year-old schoolboy, has been locked up for seven years. The 55-yearold has also been banned from the roads for 13 and a half years.
Sammon, who has an ‘appalling’ driving record, crashed into 30-year-old motorcyclist Louis McGovern, after going through a red light at a junction in Hazel Grove.
Mr McGovern, a ‘kind’ and ‘thoughtful’ geo-technical engineer, was dragged under Sammon’s Ford Transit and died the following day.
The family of Mr McGovern, who was planning to propose to his partner Lauren James, told of the devastation and anguish his death has caused. Originally from the North East, he had met Lauren in 2014, and they settled in Whaley Bridge.
“I finally felt everything in my life was in place,” said Lauren in a statement read at Minshull Street Crown Court. “I knew my future and it was Louis, and a long joy filled life with him.
“I was so happy with Louis and he was my best friend. We would have got married and had our own family, and in an instant that future was taken away and gone for ever.”
His father Mark McGovern, 64, has set up a petition and aims to gain 100,000 signatures, in the hope it will be discussed in a debate in Parliament.
Speaking after the hearing, he told the Express: “It is the texting now which I think is frightening, because people are addicted to it, they can’t give it up. I’m a cyclist, I see them all the time. I was overtaken in a car by a guy who was texting, on their steering wheel. I’ve seen a fire engine driver on his phone, I see it all the time. People looking down at their lap, that’s the tell tale sign.”
Sammon, a former heroin addict, has a criminal record littered with driving offences.
During 2002, he racked up 49 penalty points in a three-month period. In February 2004, Sammon collided with 13-year-old Michael Weaver as the schoolboy crossed Kingsway in Burnage.
Sammon, who left the scene of the crash, was later jailed for six months, after admitting careless driving, failing to stop, failing to report an accident, driving without insurance and without an MOT.
Legal technicalities led prosecutors to drop a charge of causing death by dangerous driving. The offence of causing death by careless driving did not exist at that time.
Sammon also received a five-year driving ban. In April 2016 Sammon was caught using a phone while driving on the M60, with his van being seen ‘drifting across lanes’.
Then in May 2018 he was again seen using a phone while behind the wheel on the M6.
Under the totting up process, a motorist can be banned if they accumulate 12 points in a threeyear period. In October 2018, Sammon successfully argued he would suffer an ‘exceptional hardship’ if he were to lose his licence, as it would affect his job and his caring responsibilities for his mother.
It was three months later when Sammon, who ran a car valeting company, ploughed into the side of Mr McGovern’s motorbike, on the A555 Manchester Airport Relief Road, at its junction with the A523 Macclesfield Road.
Sammon had been driving at an average speed of 24mph prior to the collision at about 5.40pm on January 15, 2019. His traffic light had been on red for three seconds by the time Sammon passed through, with no evidence of him braking.
Mr McGovern was moving into the junction when he was hit.
“The fact you did not brake clearly demonstrates in my judgement you were grossly distracted at the time,” Judge Maurice Greene told Sammon.
Before the crash, Sammon had been using WhatsApp and reading and sending messages, as well as making a call. He claimed he had been using his handsfree device, and had stopped his van to use his phone.
But the judge rejected this and said: “I am satisfied so that I am sure, that you were using this mobile phone unlawfully at this time, by holding it in your hand.
“You had no regard for any road users, because you didn’t see any road users at the time you went through the red light.”
Defending, Stuart Neale said Sammon is remorseful for his actions, but he still denies that he was driving dangerously.
He had previously admitted causing death by careless driving, but was unanimously convicted of causing death by dangerous driving after a trial.
Sammon, of Willow Avenue, showed no reaction as he was sent down, and told the judge: “Thank you for listening to the case your honour.”
Police Constable Suzanne Keenan of GMP’s Serious Collision Investigation Unit, said: “Sammon drove with a blatant disregard for the safety of other road users and this ultimately led to a young man losing his life.
“Louis innocently lost his life that day and our thoughts are firmly with his family and I hope today’s sentence will go some way towards helping them grieve and coming to terms with their loss.”