Family fight for hike in killer’s sentence
FURY AS KILLER DRIVER IS JAILED FOR JUST SEVEN YEARS SPARKING APPEAL Airlifted to safety
LOVED ones of crash victim Susan Fuller have launched a fight to get her killer locked up for longer.
The mum-of-three died after Sean Herman mowed her down in front of her sons.
He was jailed for seven years after he admitted manslaughter at Newcastle Crown Court, a sentence that left Susan’s family devastated.
Susan’s husband David has met with police since Monday’s court hearing and is now planning to appeal.
The 65-year-old , said: “We are going to appeal against the sentence, but it’s just another road to go down and we seem to run into a dead end each time. I’m not holding my breath, but it’s not over yet.”
Susan, 63, did not stand a chance when Herman ploughed into her in an Audi outside her Wallsend home, in October.
The slight grandmother was pinned against a wall and her sons, Barrie, 37, Dale 30 and 28-year-old Scott, watched helplessly as the car drove over her leaving her with catastrophic injuries.
Herman was arrested soon after and charged with murder, and the Fuller brothers began to prepare to take to the witness stand and relive the moment they watched their mum die.
But the 24-year-old pleaded guilty to manslaughter. The Crown Prosecution Service accepted the plea and the murder case was dropped.
Herman was sentenced to seven years by the Judge, Mr Justice Goss.
Scott told how he is still haunted by the moment
“I see flashbacks every day,” he said. “I knew as soon as he drove off that she was dead. She was just a lovely woman. She would do anything for you.
“I just don’t know how he’s got seven years. He’s taken a life. If he’s big enough to do the crime he should be big enough to do the time. She has done nothing to anyone.”
Susan was a popular member of the community in Howdon and had worked at the Ministry in Longbenton and Wills factory in Wallsend.
David said: “We went to the same school and we moved in the same circle of friends. I shared a flat with her and her sister when I was working abroad, then when I came back we got together and we got married when I was 28.
“I have known her since she was 14 years old. Susan has never done any harm to anyone in her life. She was a kind, generous person. She loved animals.”
“She doted on the lads. Everybody that she knew thought the world of her. When we retired we were going to sell the house and move to Northumberland. Somewhere with a bit of land. All that has gone now.”
Herman, of Tillmouth Avenue, Seaton Delaval, Northumberland, who has a previous conviction for careless driving, must serve half of the seven-years behind bars. He was banned from driving for three years after his release. A PENSIONER was airlifted to hospital after being knocked over by a cow.
The woman, in her 70s, suffered serious chest injuries but remains in a stable condition at Newcastle’s RVI.
The Great North Air Ambulance confirmed they were called to assist the North East Ambulance Service in Frosterley in Weardale at around 12.15pm on Friday.
A spokesperson said: “The patient was assessed and treated by the GNAAS paramedic and doctor team before being airlifted to the Royal Victoria Infirmary in Newcastle.”
A spokeswoman for the ambulance service said: “We were called to the Frosterley area at 11.50am to reports of a woman having been injured in an incident involving a cow.”