Kentish Express Ashford & District
‘Dad gave a smile and said see you later’
The daughter of a fun-loving Tenterden motorcyclist killed in a horrific crash has spoken of the moment she was told of his death.
Popular Malcolm Batt, a father of four, died when his machine collided with a car on the A259 Rye Road in Brookland last May.
Jason Brooker has admitted causing the crash in which his fiancee and her mother also died from their injuries.
Brooker, 38, who was left clutching his young daughter who survived, wept as a judge decided not to jail him.
Canterbury Crown Court was told that Mr Batt, 55, of Dumbourne Lane, Smallhythe, was out riding with a pal.
His daughter Lizzie remembered the moment she saw a policeman standing in the driveway of their home.
In a victim impact statement read to the court by another member of her family, she told how she had felt guilty after saying goodbye to her dad earlier in the day. “He turned around gave a big smile and said see you later. I’m not sure if I have looked deeper into things but I later suspected something was wrong.”
After returning home she added: “Within seconds my heart dropped ... as the policeman came out I had already heard the screams of my mum.
“Watching the strongest lady in the world crumble in front of you was devastating. I knew I could never make it better for her, for my brothers or for me.”
The courageous Ms Batt told how she, rather than police officers, decided to break the news to her brothers.
She added: “I can’t explain what it was like to hear two of your older brothers react when you tell them that your dad has been killed.
“Everyone says time is a healer but at the moment time seems to make me feel like I’m moving further from him, further from the day I last saw him and every day I wish more and more that he will return home.”
She added: “I will forever miss seeing him walk through the door after a long day’s work with the biggest grin across his face, cracking the most awful jokes.”
Brooker, of Great Barr, Birmingham, was given a 12-month jail sentence, suspended for two years, and ordered to do 200 hours of unpaid work for the community.
He had admitted three charges of causing the deaths by driving carelessly.
Judge Simon James said it had been a “momentary lapse of attention” when Brooker tried to turn around his Renault Megane – but failed to spot Mr Batt’s bike.
“That has led to the untimely loss of a loving father and husband, a young mother and cherished soulmate and her mother.
“It is impossible not to be touched by the sheer pain these offences have caused so many.”
The judge, who also banned Brooker from driving for three years, praised Mr Batt’s family for the eloquence in expressing how much he was loved.
He said: “It is, in my judgement, great testament to him and I cannot help feel that he would be immensely proud of their fortitude and grace and would be eternally grateful by the way they have pulled together.”
He said Mr Batt had been married for more than 30 years and his widow Sue was devas- tated.
The judge said Brooker would now have to live with the fact his actions in crossing to the opposite carriageway and failing to see the oncoming bike had caused “consequences which were truly catastrophic”.
The car passengers were Gloria Roberts, 65, of Hall Lane, Wallsall Wood, Walsall, West Midlands, and her daughter and Brooker’s girlfriend Dawn Roberts, 37, of Stanford Avenue, Great Barr, Birmingham.
Prosecutor Tetteh Turkson told the court how Mr Batt had gone for a ride with a friend planning to meet up with his wife later.
Along the A259, the Renault pulled across the road in the path of Mr Batt’s motorbike.
Brooker – who was with friends on holiday – later told police he