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news
David Leather (picture via Cheshire Police).PNGHit and run driver who killed cyclist after eight-hour drinking binge sentenced to more than six years in prison
A drunk driver who had been on an eight-hour drinking binge before hitting a cyclist and leaving him to die, and who later told police that he thought he had hit a deer, has been jailed for six years and nine months.
David Leather, aged 33 and from Leek, Staffordshire, was also banned from driving for eight years when he was sentenced at Chester Crown Court yesterday.
Last month, Leather pleaded guilty to causing the death by dangerous driving of cyclist Steven Farrish, who was cycling home to his canal boat after a night out with friends in Macclesfield where he was a well-known figure on the local music scene, known by the nickname Riverboat Steve.
Mr Farrish, aged 49, died from injuries sustained in the collision, which happened shortly after midnight on 21 October 2017 on London road, Lyme Green. The court heard that he was wearing a hi-viz vest and had a flashing rear light.
According to Cheshire Police, Leather abandoned his Ford Ranger and returned to retrieve it later, telling officers that he believed he had collided with a deer.
A police investigation revealed that Leather had been drinking alcohol throughout the evening of the fatal crash.
The Manchester Evening News quotes prosecutor Maria Masselis as saying: "The defendant was driving home on a straight stretch of the A523 when he noticed he had struck something, what he thought to be a deer, but didn't see that a cycle was attached to his vehicle.
"The road had a 50mph speed limit and he was driving at around 60mph. He had been drinking between 4pm and midnight.
"He first visited the Mulberry Leaves, in Leek, for two hours and then drove home to pick up his partner and drove to Macclesfield and visited three other places.
"He first visited Revolution by 10pm and his first round consisted of four cocktails and the second round a pint of Peroni. They then went on to Rumba where they ordered a cocktail and left shortly afterwards.
“At midnight they went to a nightclub – Fever & Boutique – and ordered two double gin and tonics and were seen walking back to the defendant's vehicle in Macclesfield town centre.
"It is estimated that he would have been twice the legal drink-drive limit and that Mr Farrish would have been visible for between 12 and 15 seconds," she added.
PC Iain Condliffe of Cheshire Police said: “Leather left Steven dying in the road and immediately attempted to cover his tracks and then claim that he had collided with a deer. His actions were callous and calculating and he is now facing the consequences.
“While this result will not bring Steven back, I hope it will help his family and friends in some way to come to terms with this terrible tragedy.”
Simon joined road.cc as news editor in 2009 and is now the site’s community editor, acting as a link between the team producing the content and our readers. A law and languages graduate, published translator and former retail analyst, he has reported on issues as diverse as cycling-related court cases, anti-doping investigations, the latest developments in the bike industry and the sport’s biggest races. Now back in London full-time after 15 years living in Oxford and Cambridge, he loves cycling along the Thames but misses having his former riding buddy, Elodie the miniature schnauzer, in the basket in front of him.
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31 comments
Meanwhile...
28 years for injuring some people in a nightclub, only one of which was seriously injured.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-kent-46824330
(yes, I know it's apples and oranges because he made threats to kill prior to doing it) but fucking hell child killers have got less.
and I'm positive that his skin colour and ethnicity had nothing to do with his sentence.
Don't agree, if you're over then you took a decision to drive knowing you'd had a skin full the previous night or just come out the pub after having a couple of beers, you're gambling on the fact you might be under but are just a bit over. That's predetermined and you're playing russian roulette with other people's lives and we know it does due to the number of people KSI'd by those just a 'bit over'
It should be manslaughter full stop, then the judge should be applying the aggravated factors such as twice or three times over the limit to add to the starting tariff. This aggravated killing should see at least 10 years and should be a crime against the persons crime, as it should if you are a 'litle bit over' or if you were 'only on the phone for a few seconds'.
I expect that if your child were killed by a drink driver, the fact they were just a little bit over would be of little comfort as the judge gives them a slap on the wrist!
7% increase in drink driving KSIs to end of 2016 higher than 2010 (DD stats are often 2 years behind, 2017 coming out in Feb)
My mother was killed by a drunk motorcyclist who was just a little bit over, and yes, it was of no comfort whatsoever, and even less when the judge did give him a slap on the wrist.
I know the victim of the following article was on a motorcycle but the decision of the court does seem to be par for the course;
https://www.getsurrey.co.uk/news/surrey-news/driver-who-killed-weybridge...
Driving while disqualified (and no insurance)
disqualified for a further three months and fined £1,100
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-sussex-46811025
"I'll give you my car key when you pry it from my cold, dead hands"
Drink driving laws should in my view apply to cases where you are a bit over... e.g morning after etc.
Driving after that amount shows such a willful and flagrant disregard for the law and the safety of others that it should have carried a far higher penalty.
And that is before leaving the scene of a fatal accident and making up some cockamamy story about deer.
They do, and there have been some convictions after holidays like new years.
Burtthebike - I think PRSBoy meant that the drink driving laws should only apply in "cases where you are a bit over... e.g morning after etc.", and that doing what this bloke did shouldn't be addressed by the drink driving laws but by a much more serious set of laws. I think.
(Difference between going out in the car the next morning not realising that your liver is still working away, vs going out in the car when you've only just put down your fifth Jaegerbomb glass or whatever...).
Yup, you have it Brooksby. My statement was badly phrased. I meant 'only apply'.
What I was getting at is that there is a different level of intent between thinking you're fine in the morning after a heavy night and still being a bit over, vs going out drinking that much whilst driving.
I believe in Germany killing while driving (drunk or not) is an automatic charge of manslaughter where the offender has to prove their innocence!
But in the UK, driving a vehicle absolves you of any blame, and it's up to the victim to prove your guilt.
is it out of order to wish for a cluedo style ending for this POS ... some old lag, using a shiv in the recreation lounge.
justice system is an utter disgrace, judge wants his head giving a bang, as do most of them!
What size frame on the shiv? Not sure you’ll be able to get one smuggled in. And If a shiv rider he’ll have no socks to put some billiard balls in either to stun him before
Do the ban and the prison sentence run concurrently?
So once out, he has a much shorter ban to contend with?
No, the ban will begin when he is released. Which, assuming he doesn't murder the prison Governor in the meantime, will be in approximately 3 years - 4 months.
The most important thing to say here is that this is an EXCEPTIONALLY HIGH sentence for someone who has killed someone due to their bad driving.
It was only that high because :
(a) He was obviously drunk.
(b) He had failed to stop.
(c) He had obviously killed a cyclist becase the bike was embedded in his vehicle.
(d) He used a hopeless excuse - see (c)
(e) He had been speeding.
Without thes efactors he would have got away with a much lower sentence, if indeed any.
I think you mean that it took this many factors for CPS to realise they couldn’t ignore it, and had to do something for a change.
In all honesty 90% of that sentence was for drink driving. If he hadn't been drunk but had done exactly the same thing he'd be out in 12 months with a year long driving ban
FTFY
More likely he would have pleaded not guilty, been found not guilty by a biased car-driving-only jury and let off scot-free.
That's what nearly always happens unless alcohol, drugs or mobile phone use is proven.
Jail time? Good.
Driving ban? Eight years? Is that all??
What sort of person will think they can drive even vaguely competently following a bender like that? What sort of person thinks "Oh, yeah, that high viz clad thing with flashing lights was definitely a deer, so I won't even bother checking"??
I'm sorry, but when he gets out of jail he should be sent on an alcohol awareness course, and never let near the steering wheel of a car ever again!
I have no words.
Whilst I'm pleased that a jail sentence is in place, I'm once again stunned with the law still letting people like this ever hold a license ever again.
Owning a driving license should be a privilege not a right.
Does anyone know if there is there actual law or case which has actually stopped someone from owning a driving license ever again?
Dennis Putz. 2010. Killed a cyclist and had multiple drink driving convictions before getting a lifetime ban. What really is astonishing is that his occupation was a lorry driver!
https://road.cc/content/news/27511-breaking-seven-years-jail-and-lifetim...
Whilst I'm pleased that a jail sentence is in place, I'm once again stunned with the law still letting people like this ever hold a license ever again.
Owning a driving license should be a privilege not a right.
Does anyone know if there is there actual law or case which has actually stopped someone from owning a driving license ever again?
"...he didn't notice a bicycle attached to his vehicle..." ??? I believe in the justice system in this country, but sometimes...
The sentence is far too short for the crime, obviously, but what about his partner who was also complicit in this? Getting into a car with someone who's been drinking as much as he had, knew what they were doing. Idiots!
So what exactly do you have to do to get the maximum term, reverse?
Kill an MP on a bike, or a royal would probably do it, but you, the plebs, don't really count.
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