Killer driver jailed for just 4 days after judge blunder
A DRIVER who killed a woman after jumping a red light was jailed for just four days due to a legal blunder.
Sally Gibbons, 36, was knocked down on a pedestrian crossing by Sarah Webber as she drove through the traffic lights during a ‘lapse’ in concentration.
The mother- of- one suffered serious injuries and died a week later after collapsing at home with a blood clot.
Last week Webber, 44, was sentenced to eight months in jail after pleading guilty to death by careless driving.
But in an unusual move her barrister had the case brought back before the court just four days later to argue that the judge should never have sent her to prison.
Robert Dawson, defending, told Liverpool Crown Court that Judge Robert Trevor-Jones had previously indicated Webber would receive a suspended jail term for her early guilty plea.
After reviewing his comments, the judge agreed he had made a mistake and freed Webber. The mother-of-three broke down in tears as he suspended her jail term for two years instead. Last night Mrs Gibbons’ husband, Gerard, who has an eight-yearold daughter Marina with his wife, condemned the ‘pathetic’ justice system.
‘It has totally destroyed me,’ he said. ‘When I was told the woman had been sent home, I just couldn’t deal with it.
‘I was brought up to believe that if you did something wrong you would go to prison for it. If you did the crime, you served the time. She should be in jail. I have lost a wonderful wife and Marina has lost her mother. It has had a massive impact on our life and totally ripped us apart.’ Mr Gibbons, 59, who was with his wife for 17 years, said he had considered Webber’s previous eight month sentence to be ‘pathetic’, adding: ‘That sentence was not enough and now this. Now she is free. ‘[Webber] has never apologised to me and said sorry for what happened.’ Mrs Gibbons, a full time mother, was on her way to a
local children’s centre where she worked as a volunteer when she was hit by Webber on June 16, 2015, the court heard.
Webber was said to be driving at no more than 24mph when she struck Mrs Gibbons, who had walked 20ft across the road in Huyton, Liverpool.
Webber, a podiatrist, of Chester, told police she failed to notice the lights had changed or realise other traffic was coming to a halt. She stayed at the scene and tried to help Mrs Gib- bons until paramedics arrived. Mrs Gibbons suffered multiple fractured ribs and a punctured lung, plus fractures to her clavicle, pelvis and vertebrae.
She spent a week at Aintree Hospital but had to be re-admitted after suddenly collapsing at home following her discharge due to a fatal blood clot.
Webber’s barrister applied for a review of her sentence after checking comments made by the judge at a hearing in Januarywhere she admitted the death by careless driving charge – that indicated she would get a suspended sentence.
After listening to a recording of his comments, the judge said: ‘It’s somewhat disappointing that this wasn’t brought to my attention ... last week.
‘While I don’t accept that what I said on the 16th of January gave any specific intention of the nature of the sentence, I do accept clearly that nevertheless there could be some reasonable expectation of a significantly different sentence to that which I imposed.
‘ Now that I have been reminded of the precise words that I used ... I have recourse to review this sentence.’
He ordered Webber to carry out 240 hours of unpaid work and reduced her driving ban from 22 months to 18.