Distraught family of lad want law changed so Drink-driver who killed our son got a £170 fine
A FAMILY is crusading for justice after the drink-driver who killed their son got off with a £170 fine.
There were no witnesses when a near neighbour, Gursharan Sira, struck George Beresford, 21, as he walked home.
So Sira, 26, could not be accused of anything more serious then drink-driving and he was not imprisoned.
Now graduate George’s family is campaigning for a law change so every drink-driver who takes a life is jailed.
They are urging readers to take part in a government online survey to increase pressure to toughen the law so that no other families endure their ordeal.
Sira also got a 28-month driving ban and was told to do 180 hours unpaid work during a 12-month community order.
George’s dad Mark said: “The sentence was no more punishment than that given to someone pulled over for a broken brake light and breathalysed.”
Mum Shaena added: “A jail term of two to seven years would at least be a way for society to punish a driver responsible for another person’s death in this way.”
Precious
Tragedy struck just yards from the family home in Purley, South London, on February 7 last year.
Sporty, popular George had just completed a maths degree at Exeter University and was two weeks into his first job at a City of London bank.
He was fatally hit as he returned from a night out with old schoolfriends.
Shaena, 45, said: “There was a knock on the door at 2.45am. We thought it was George, forgetting his key.
“Instead, it was a policeman who told us, ‘Your son has been in an accident. He has a head injury.’ The officer drove us to a neurologicalg cal hospital, St George’s,, in Tooting.
“WhenWhen he put his blue light and sirens on for the journey, we knew it was serious.
“AA doctor told us the head injuryry was so severe and his braini n so swollen they wouldn’t uldn’t normally operate because ause there was little chancence of success. But he was young and strong, so they y were willing to try.
“We We walked alongside George on his trolley as he was wheeled for surgery. He had a bandage round his head but otherwise he looked normal and peaceful, like he was sleeping. All the way down the corridors, I kept telling him that we loved him and were proud of him.” While Shaena and contracts manager Mark, 50, waited outside the operating theatre, police told them the motorist would be charged with drink-driving. Shaena said: “Anger washed over me. Our son was fighting for his life yet none of this need have happened if only that driver had done the right and responsible thing and taken a taxi back home.” Surgery was unsuccessful and George, eldest of three children, was kept on life support while his grandparents flew home from holid holiday in Thailand and a friend came from Australia to say goodby goodbye. Mar Mark said: “George’s universit university mates travelled from all over th the country to be there for him. “In th the first 24 hours he had abou about 100 visitors.” Shaena added: “That time was very p precious to us, holding his h hand, chatting to him. But there was never an any response.” After a second scan showed no sign of brain activity, life support was switched off on February 10, three days after the accident.
Shaena said: “I sat and felt his heart stop beating. It was a moment that will stay with me for the rest of my life.”
More than 500 mourners attended the funeral at a local Catholic church.
The Beresfords channelled their grief into raising more than £ 16,000 from donations and sponsored events for St George’s hospital and several charities.
The family expected serious charges to be laid against the driver.
But in August, the Crown Prosecution Service told them that with no witnesses to the accident, no CCTV and no other evidence to support charges of dangerous driving or careless driving, the driver could only be accused of drink-driving.
Mark said: “It was devastating news. If somebody gets behind a wheel when they’re over the alcohol limit, that’s careless or dangerous driving in itself. It shouldn’t be necessary to prove anything else.”
Shaena said: “We went straight to our local MP. He was as shocked as us.
“We also appealed against the CPS decision. But we were told that with the law as it currently stands, there was no way to charge the driver with any further offence.”
Sira, who lived two streets from the Beresfords in Purley, appeared before Croydon magistrates in October and admitted drink-driving.
Two hours after the accident, he gave police a reading of 42 micrograms of alcohol in 100 millilitres of breath. The legal limit is 35 micrograms.
Mark was in court and said: “I left horrified. The sentence was the maximum the law allows yet it was a slap on the wrist.
“To us, it felt like the driver who took the life of our son had just been let off.
“Afterwards, everyone we knew was