Death-driver term appeal rejected

The Court of Appeal has dismissed the Attorney General's application for an increase in the sentence of a man who killed his friend in a car crash.

Gareth McCaughan was convicted last June of causing the death of Mark Grant by dangerous driving.

Mr Grant's family believe he should have got longer than 18 months detention in a Young Offenders Centre followed by 12 months on probation.

Lord Chief Justice Sir Brian Kerr said the term was within the correct range.

McCaughan, of Alviston Park in Carryduff, was driving at about 80 miles an hour when his car took off on the brow of a hill and crashed on the Saintfield Road near Lisburn in June 2006.

The incident occurred shortly after he passed his driving test.

Mr Grant was not wearing a seatbelt and was killed.

The punishment to be imposed must relate directly to the culpability of the offender and the established sentencing guidelines Sir Brian Kerr Lord chief justice

The Court of Appeal was told that McCaughan had tried to get two other friends who were in the car to lie and say he had swerved to avoid an animal in the road.

Sir Brian said that was a "wholly discreditable aspect of the offender's reaction to this offence, made worse by his persistence in this patently lying account when first interviewed by police".

The court accepted, however, that McCaughan, who was 18 at the time of the crash, did have genuine remorse for what had happened.

Taking account of McCaughan's guilty plea and other mitigating factors, the judges said they believed that the appropriate sentence was in the range of two years and three months to two years and seven months.

While they did not believe that the trial judge had taken the right approach, the sentence imposed was within the correct range.

The Lord Chief Justice said: "Although we bear their unhappiness closely in mind, the punishment to be imposed must relate directly to the culpability of the offender and the established sentencing guidelines.

"These are the factors that have primarily determined the outcome of the application."

Sir Brian added: "The ghastly features of this accident bear many of the classic features that road safety campaigners repeatedly identify as the cause of death and grievous injury on our roads.

"The failure to wear a seat belt; the outrageous speed; the inexperience of the driver; the belief of the driver that his expertise is far greater than it is in fact, and the foolish, brazen bravado of youth are sadly well-documented causes of dreadful road traffic deaths."