£ 1,500 is the price of a life as driver walks free
A DRIVER who killed a woman while speeding in a high-powered sports car has walked free with just a £1,500 fine.
Paul Marples had been charged with causing death by dangerous driving, which carries a maximum sentence of 14 years in jail.
But a jury convicted the 21-year- old computer technician of the lesser charge of careless driving, for which the maximum penalty is a £2,500 fine.
Last night, the dead woman’s furious family branded the outcome ‘a travesty of justice’.
Marples was doing 57mph in a 30mph zone when he crashed his Ford Mustang into a Fiat Punto in which 28-year- old Sharon Berry was a passenger.
The Punto was thrown ‘ as high as a street lamp’ by the American- built five- litre car before coming to rest 150ft away.
Trainee hairdresser Miss Berry was killed instantly and her fiance Guy Payne, who was driving, suffered broken wrists. Miss Berry’s four- year- old daughter Chloe had her arm broken in two places.
Imposing the £1,500 fine and an 18- month driving ban, Judge Richard Bray told Marples at Northampton Crown Court: ‘ I have no powers to impose a custodial sentence.’
Later, Miss Berry’s family and a road safety campaigner criticised delays in passing laws to create a new charge of causing death by careless driving.
Her 50- year- old grandfather Mick Berry – who is now bringing up Chloe with his wife Joan – said: ‘We feel incensed by what has happened. It is right that the law is being changed, but it’s too late for us.
‘We have waited 16 months for justice and have had our noses rubbed in it. It is a travesty of justice.’
His wife said: ‘We are left bringing Chloe up and are reminded of what happened every day. We keep putting on a brave face for her, but inside we are ripped to shreds. It was heartbreaking having to take Chloe to school for the first day when it should have been her mother doing it.’
Campaigner Jay Calascione, of RoadPeace, said: ‘ My son was killed in 1985 and there was talk then about introducing a charge of death by careless driving. I can’t understand why the Government has taken so long when we have seen swift legislation in other areas, such as the Dangerous Dogs Act.’
Marples was driving near his home in Daventry, Northamptonshire, on July 9 last year when – after cresting a blind hill – he smashed into the Punto as it turned into a T-junction.
Witness Rosemary Cooper said: ‘ The Mustang flew across the top of the hill with no chance of braking. There was a loud bang and the Punto spun as high as a street lamp and went over three times in the air.’
An offence of causing death by careless driving is due to be created in the Road Safety Bill, which should come into effect next summer. It will also bring in offences of causing death by driving while unlicensed, uninsured or disqualified.
It is intended to end the scandal of killer drivers escaping with fines. Other recent cases include 25- year- old Hayley Matthews, who was fined £83 for a hit-and-run killing last year.
Matthews was driving an uninsured car at night with defective headlights when she hit Marc Downing, 22. She was charged with failing to report an accident in Bodmin, Cornwall.
William Ashani, 48, was fined £1,000 and banned for 12 months last year after killing a family of four when his lorry hit their car on the M1 near Luton. He was convicted of careless driving.