Victim’s parents are left ‘gutted’ as killer driver walks free from court
THE parents of a young Royal Navy recruit say they are ‘gutted’ after the man who killed him walked free from court.
James Edwards, 22, a former Poynton High School pupil, was run over by a car as he lay in the middle of the road and was dragged more than 100 metres, suffering fatal injuries.
The driver of the Audi, Wayne Davies, 31, made off in the car and for two years denied his driving was careless.
On the eve of his retrial Davies admitted causing death by careless driving and possessing class A drugs. He was given a suspended tenmonth sentence and 200
hours unpaid work.
Jane Edwards, James’s mum, told Minshull Street Crown Court Davies had ‘shown no remorse’ and was more interested in ‘protecting himself’.
She said Davies had even ‘tried to antagonise’ by drinking in a pub in Poynton where the wake had been held, showing ‘disregard and disrespect’.
James had been out celebrating his imminent posting to the Navy the night he died.
He had been drinking and was lying down on a railway bridge on Bramhall Moor Lane in Hazel Grove, Stockport, when he was hit.
He had been involved in an argument with his girlfriend, who went home but then returned to look for him in her Mini. She saw the moment he was hit by Davies.
Davies, of Lyndhurst Avenue, Hazel Grove, had been driving home with a girl he had met on a night out in Manchester city centre when he struck James.
It was said he had seen ‘the obstruction’ in the road and decided to drive over it at a speed of between 20mph and 25mph.
Davies says he thought he hit a bin bag.
He ‘disgracefully’ made no attempt to investigate the obstruction and officers tracked him down by following a trial of coolant from the damaged radiator.
In the witness box Mrs Edwards, a former nurse, described her son as a ‘kind considerate and loving son, loved by all, with a beautiful smile’.
She said: “It’s every mother’s worst nightmare to lose a child and this nightmare has happened to me.
“I will never forgive you, Wayne Davies, for what you have done to me and my family.”
After the hearing Mrs Edwards and Glyn Edwards, James’s dad said they were ‘gutted’ Davies had not been jailed.
Mr Edwards said: “He deserved a prison sentence, but I can understand the judge.”
In sentencing Judge John Potter said: “Had your driving that night not fallen below the standards of a reasonable and competent driver, the death of James Edwards may have been avoided.”
Ben Smitten, defending, said his client was driving at 22mph on the correct side of the road.
“Mr Davies accepts by his plea his part in this tragic episode,” said Mr Smitten, who added his client had been ‘remorseful’ to probation officers and apologised ‘for his part in the episode through me’.
Davies will have a four-month curfew and was banned from driving for four years.