Death crash driver showed 'contempt' for victim by failing to show up for unpaid work

Kelly Lucas was handed a “merciful” sentence in April this year after admitting causing the death of 88-year-old Jack Richardson.

Mr Richardson suffered fatal injuries in the collision on Flanshaw Road, Wakefield, after being struck by Lucas’s vehicle as he made his way to visit his wife’s grave.

Mr Richardson’s son John Richardson, 69, said: “It’s like the judge said – she just thought she could get away with it without doing anything.

“She should have got a suspended sentence and that would have made her think, ‘If I don’t turn up (for unpaid work) I will be in jail.’”

He was sympathetic to Lucas when she was first sentenced. But now he says: “I was giving her the benefit of the doubt and now she has shown she isn’t bothered.”

Of his father, he said: “He has gone, he can’t stand up for himself, he can’t say anything.”

Lucas, 34, was made the subject of an 18-month community order and was told to do 250 hours of unpaid after pleading guilty to causing death by careless driving. Lucas, of Broadowler Lane, Ossett, returned to Leeds Crown Court after failing to turn up to carry out the unpaid work element of the punishment.

The court heard Lucas repeatedly told lies to probation officers when they challenged her for failing to attend.

Judge Rodney Jameson, QC, told Lucas: “In my judgement you have shown contempt for the deceased victim of your crime.”

Lucas pleaded guilty to two offences of breach of an unpaid work order. Michael Jowett, mitigating, said it was accepted that Lucas’s failure to attend for unpaid work had been unacceptable but she had now begun to engage with the probation service.

Judge Jameson increased the number of unpaid work hours that Lucas must complete to 300 hours and ordered that she pay £250 costs.

He added: “If you breach it again somebody will lock you up.”

At the sentencing hearing earlier this year, the court heard Mr Richardson was clearly visible to Lucas.

The retired education welfare officer was very active for his age. He also visited his wife’s grave twice a day, every day.