Banned driver jailed for fatality

Daryl Bridge was killed walking home after his car broke down

A driver from Bedfordshire, jailed for 15 months, has become the first person in England to be sent to prison for causing death while disqualified.

Mathieu Cannon, 20, of Campton, was on bail for a driving offence, committed while banned, when he knocked down Daryl Bridge, 19, on a country road.

Mr Bridge's car had broken down near Lower Stondon on 27 October 2008.

Cannon admitted all charges but Judge Andrew Bright QC at Luton Crown Court said he should not have been driving.

Judge Bright QC said: "You had no business to be driving at all. Daryl Bridge had his life ahead of him.

"You brought his life to a premature end when you decided to drive as a disqualified driver."

He sentenced Cannon, of Mill Lane, Campton near Shefford, to 15 months, banned him from driving for two years and ordered that he take a retest.

String of motoring offences

The court heard just 11 days before the fatal accident, on 16 October, Cannon had been arrested and bailed by police for driving while disqualified and having no insurance.

He will serve his 15 months' detention in a Young Offenders' Institution.

A spokesman for Bedfordshire Crown Prosecution Service said he was the first person to be prosecuted and sentenced in England under the new law of causing death while disqualified.

Cannon, Beds pleaded guilty to causing death while disqualified and to causing death while having no insurance.

Full of remorse

Prosecutor Bozzie Sheffi said Cannon had been prosecuted for a string of motoring offences since 2005 including theft, driving without a proper licence, having no insurance and not wearing a seat belt.

On 27 October Daryl Bridge of Jubilee Close, Henlow, was walking along Shillington Road towards Lower Stondon at 1850 GMT.

He was hit by Cannon who was travelling at between 61 and 62 miles per hour.

Cannon said the impact made him feel sick. He drove a mile down the road to a residential area and dialled 999.

The cause of death was multiple head injuries with severe head injuries.

Defence barrister Kevin Molloy said Cannon was full of remorse and had asked to be sent to prison when he was interviewed by a probation officer.