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‘Coward’ who left boy to die
Thursday 12th February 2009, 12:10PM GMT.
A mother has branded a Shropshire driver who left her 10-year-old son dying in the road “selfish” and a “coward”.
Roy Allen, of Station Road, Meole Village, Shrewsbury, failed to stop immediately after hitting Lee Thompson-Walker then failed to report the accident to police.
Allen, 68, who admitted the charges at a previous hearing, was yesterday sentenced to six weeks in jail suspended for 12 months, told to carry out 120 hours of unpaid work, had his driving licence endorsed with nine penalty points and ordered to pay £60 costs.
The court heard Allen had not caused the accident, but failed to stop after hitting Lee.
Elizabeth Thompson, 38, Lee’s mother, said the sentence was “shocking” and did not reflect the pain Allen had put her family through.
Llandudno Magistrates Court heard Lee died in hospital the day after he was struck by Allen’s Land Rover Freelander on the A470 in Llanrwst, Conwy, on July 28.
The youngster had been cycling with two friends and the court heard it was believed his bike collided with a wall and he fell into the road. Police at first believed no vehicle was involved, until Lee’s friends were questioned and tyre marks found on his T-shirt.
Allen was visited by police 45 days later, after he was traced through CCTV images.
Mr Gareth Preston, prosecuting, said Allen told police he had stopped, but away from the scene. He said Allen had returned to the scene but did not see any police to report it. Allen failed to report the matter after returning home.
Mrs Jean Bryson, presiding magistrate, told Allen: “You showed a lack of moral courage in not taking responsibility for your part in this tragic accident.” Following the hearing, Miss Thompson said: “While they drove home and got on with their lives, our lives were torn apart. His actions were selfish and that of a coward.”
Mr Gwyndaf Parry, for Allen, said his client was “genuinely and extremely remorseful” his actions. Speaking afterwards, Mr Parry said: “It is clear from investigations Mr Allen was not responsible for the tragic death of the child.”
By Rebecca Lawrence
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Im sorry, but six weeks in jail, which will never happen as its been suspended for 12 months, he is still walking the streets, the law system is totally screwed up, he should get life, anyone who does such a thing should get life!
Elizabeth Thompson, sorry for your loss.
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I cannot believe that Allen has not been sent to the big house for at least a couple of years. I hope the CPS appeal against the sentence in order to get Allen banged up.
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that is a absolutly discusting sentence – £60 to pay and a suspended sentence – The Judge needs his head examining!!!!!!!!!!!!
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That sentence is a joke! Why hasnt he been jailed?
Pity much worse cant be done to him, hope the rest of his life is hell and others like him. British justice is a joke.
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What the hell are the courts doing handing out a slap on the wrist for killing someone and then fleeing the scene . Ban him for life fine him all his assets make him bankrupt at least he is still alive more than that poor child is
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This animal deserves to rot in hell.
How could anyone leave a child dying in the road.
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If you can’t pay your council tax you can end up with a prison sentence, so why hasn’t this man received a fitting punishment.
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Yet another pathetic excuse for Justice! This driver should have been banned for at least 12 month and made to retake his license on return. As for the fine…. they could have at least fined him enough to hurt his pocket! This is an outrage, no wonder the poor boy’s family is angry. My sincere condolences to this boy’s family for this injustice.
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The issue here is did the magistrates give the max sentence should he have been sent to crown court for sentencing . All things summed up ie he didnt cause the accident but he ran over him and then left is si or must be as bad .Was h charged with the correct offence?,Did the cps go for an easy conviction?
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It makes me wonder what world these judges live in. If you drive over a car at 100mph on a clear traffic free road and you end up with a hefty fine and banned from driving. If you are a motorcyclist doing the same you also get a jail sentence.
Yet this spineless scum ball get a small fine and a six week suspended jail sentence.
How can anyone have faith in our legal system?
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What message does this send out to others?
By leaving the scene and not reporting it, he was hoping to evade the law. Anyone who acts in such a manner should be punished far more for their cowardly actions. He should have been jailed and banned from driving for life.
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Elizabeth – my thoughts and prayers are with you. What is the matter with British Justice. That evil man should be jailed for life, stripped of all assets and left to rot in hell. Lillylivered judges – they dont deserve the enormous salaries they earn to sit on their fat backsides and dish out paltry sentences for a terrible crime such as this. Unfortunately life is cheap in Britain these days.
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‘Appalling’ is all I can say – that poor family have been left to suffer their loss for the rest of their lives, lets hope he gets what he deserves in the end!
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We say the same things after every ridiculous sentence is passed and what is done – nothing, certainly our MPs are not listening. Every realistic form of sanction against criminals and wrongdoers have been done away with by this Labour Government who came to office on the cliche “tough on crime – tough on the causes of crime”. The only comment that they can come out with is what Brown said in PMQs when a Tory MP criticised another case where a ridiculaous sentence had been passed and accused Brown of being soft on crime. Brown said, “since we came into office, the prison population has increased by 20,000″. What he forgot or deliberately did not say is that crime has also increased beyond 20,000 since they came into office and short of committing the most horrendous offences, pure and simple, people are not going to prison or, if they are, the sentences are so meaningless that they insult each and everyone of us but most of all the victims.
We live in a clockwork orange society and we get sentences like this and wonder why.
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This shows exactly how pathetic our justice system is,how can any judge give out a sentence like that when a 10 year old boy has lost his life? My heart goes out to his family.
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Why aren’t the courts sending offenders to prison when it would seem justified ?, because they have been instructed not to unless it is absolutely unavoidable. The entire prison system is under review. The government is determined to reduce the cost to the taxpayer. Early releases are to be the order of the day, varieties of different community orders are available, whether-or-not you personally consider any of these more than Window-Dressing is a matter for yourself. The professionalism of the Prison Officer is in the process of being cast aside by the introduction of a very basic new grade where the only criteria is that of cheapness. Recruitment of Prison Officers per se has stopped.
Get used to many more examples of what we would have thought custodial offenders walking away from the courts smirking, law-abiding citizens are to become far more exposed than ever before because the punishment whilst looking good in statistics will in reality be next to zero.
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Have to say I am amazed at the leniency of the courts is there something we do not know about this case?
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Sack the judge
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My name is Sam and I am Liz Thompsons best friend. I was with the family in court on Wednesday when this ridiculous sentence was passed to this poor excuse of a Human Being!
I would alo like to remind everyone that his wife was also in the car but she also goes totally unpunished.
The family of Lee are well aware that he didn`t technically kill Lee but the car hit him and this despicable pair left him dying in the road not 10 mins from his house whilst they drove back to their home and didn`t say a word to anyone.
Liz and the rest of the family had to, the very next day watch Lee die which no family should ever have to do. He has left a gaping hole in their lives as he has to all who knew and loved him.
Never have I seen someone bear their grief with such courage and dignity and it breaks my heart to see Liz and Allan lose their son and Ben and Lisa their little brother and then see this man walk away and carry on with his life totally unaware of the extra pain he`s caused!
He and is wife are a disgrace to humanity and how they can sleep at night is beyond me.
I will show all these comments to Liz who I know will be grateful for your passionate feelings about this and your kind words of sympathy.
Thank you, it restores some of your faith in humanity!
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Of course the reason why there are 20,000 more people in prison is because there is always room for those guilty of the following:
Non payment of council tax
Non payment of TV license
Allowing kids to play truant
Objecting or opposing our Junta in any way
Burglars, rapists and fraudsters, (the last item includes MPs and bankers), no room at the inn… got to keep the great british public in fear…
It’s a joke and the sooner we stand up to them the better!
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Just want to say thank you for all of your messages. Its nice to know that other people are as stunned as we are by this disgusting sentence. My family appreciates all the support.
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We’ve just rewarded this man’s behaviour. He took a chance that he could get away with it, and even though he was tracked down and brought to ‘justice’, he still has got away with it. What example does this give to every one else? If in doubt – run. Sorry, but we can’t let that happen.
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Considering the driver was not at fault in the death of the child the driver was punished only for failing to report the accident. If the child fell off his bike alongside the vehicle he may not even have seen the child or felt the collision. In that case the Judge’s decision may be seen to be harsh upon the driver. The death of a child is always a tragedy but it is not always someone elses fault.
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He had seen the boys on their bikes and knew that he had hit Lee. He had told the Police this when they interviewed him.
The issue here isn`t about whether it was the drivers fault! The fact is he knew he`d hit him but failed to stop and report the accident which then in turn caused more heartache for the family. Quite aware that accidents happen but the majority of people would stop,tell someone and not keep it to themselves for 6 weeks!!
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