Parents banned from contacting driver in smash that killed daughter
THE parents of a teenage girl killed in a horror crash have been handed a two-year restraining order after the driver complained of being harassed.
Katelyn, 15, was waiting at a bus stop on Wakefield Road, Moldgreen, on January 10, 2018, when a BMW driven by Richard Brooke mounted the pavement and hit her and two other pedestrians.
The Shelley College student died later that day from multiple injuries and two other women were injured, one of them suffering life-changing injuries.
The driver, who was 51 at the time, was never charged with any offence after the Crown Prosecution Service heard evidence that he fainted at the wheel.
That decision infuriated Katelyn’s parents, Colin, 47, and Angela, 50, of Dalton Fold Road, Huddersfield, who have fought an unrelenting campaign – Justice for Katelyn.
They appeared before a district judge at Bradford Magistrates’ Court facing harassment charges.
The couple had been accused of driving very slowly past the shop of Mr Brooke’s wife Claire Lomas Brooke and staring through the window.
They were also accused of slowly passing the Brookes’ home and of turning up to Mr Brooke’s workplace and handing out a petition entitled
Justice for Katelyn.
Yesterday the Crown Prosecution Service formally withdrew the harassment charges against the Dawsons after they agreed to abide by the terms of a restraining order.
This stops them from contacting the Brookes in any way whatsoever including by social media.
District Judge Richard Clews, a former expert lawyer specialising in such cases, told them: “Anyone hearing of these circumstances, would, I have no doubt, the profoundest of sympathies.
“Everything you did or may have done is likely to be a way of trying to express your grief and possible sense of injustice rather than deliberately attempting to break the law.
“Your actions are understandable to a point.”
However, he told them the Brookes deserved to be protected and the order was designed to provide that protection.
“I am acutely aware that the resolution of these proceedings is not going to bring your grief to an end.
“Sadly, nothing ever will, it will always be there. It’s a tragedy for you and I’m very sad about that.”
After the hearing the Dawsons issued a statement saying: “We are pleased that common sense has prevailed and the harassment charges against us have been dropped.
“We can now focus on the most important matter which is the inquest into Katelyn’s death.
“We still have many unanswered questions and hopefully these will be resolved by the coroner.”