A retired Lincolnshire police officer who caused a fatal crash when he pulled out in front of a “popular and well respected” motorcyclist has been given a suspended jail sentence, Lincoln Crown Court heard on Friday.
Malcolm Dodd, 73, of Mill Lane, Saxilby, had denied causing the death of 23-year-old Richard Arbon by careless driving on June 6, 2019.
But the former police sergeant was found guilty after a trial at Lincoln Crown Court in December.
The jury heard Dodd turned right off a side road onto the A57 near Burton just after 1.20pm and collided with a motorcycle being ridden by Mr Arbon.
His car door collided with Mr Arbon who suffered head injuries which caused him to die at the scene.
Mr Arbon’s mother, Denise Arbon, read out a moving victim impact statement in court before Dodd was sentenced.
Mrs Arbon told the court Richard had achieved so many things in his 23 years, including becoming the youngest ever unit trainer for the St John’s Ambulance Service in Lincolnshire, and was also the student president of Lincoln College for 18 months.
Richard Arbon died in a crash on the A57 Saxilby.
Both organisations have honoured Richard with awards in his name.
Mrs Arbon said Richard had found his niche as a biker, but the crash had left a hole which could never be filled in her family.
“My birthday will never be the same, as Richard was born on my birthday,” Mrs Arbon added.
Mrs Arbon told the court what haunted her most was that her son’s last memories would have been of the car pulling in front out of him rather than his loving family.
The court heard Dodd had no previous convictions, including for driving.
Siward James-Moore, mitigating for Dodd, said he now accepted his mistake had caused the death of this young man.
Mr James-Moore told the court Dodd had also decided to give up driving for good.
The court heard Dodd was a long serving police officer who worked as a Sergeant in Lincolnshire before retiring, and lives alone.
“He feels the remorse deeply,” Mr Siward-Moore added.
Before passing sentence Judge Simon Hirst made it clear no sentence could put a value on Mr Arbon’s life.
But Judge Hirst told Dodd he took the view his driving was more than a momentary error of judgement.
Judge Hirst said: “Richard Arbon was plainly well respected by many people, and had helped a great many people in this county.
“I have heard from Mr Arbon’s mother about the hole it has left in their family.”
But the Judge said while Dodd’s driving clearly passed the custudial threshold, he also had to consider the sentencing guidelines on suspending the sentence.
Dodd was sentenced to nine months imprisonment suspended for two years and was banned from driving for 12 months.
He must also pay £1,500 court costs and obey a curfew for three months.
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Nominations are open for schools and education settings to be recognised in the 2022 Lincolnshire Education Excellence Awards.
The event is organised by Stonebow Media, publishers of The Lincolnite, to celebrate the best school and teachers in Greater Lincolnshire.
The headline sponsors making the awards possible are Lincoln College Group.
Twelve categories are now open for nominations. The deadline for nominations is June 3, with a judging lunch scheduled for June 7.
Nominations are open from parents, carers, friends, families or education settings themselves, so if you know someone who deserving of winning now is the time to vote!
The awards ceremony will be held at the Engine Shed on July 7.
It’s been a week since the controversial statue of Margaret Thatcher was installed in Grantham’s St Peter’s Hill.
The £300,000 bronze monument immediately caused a stir and debate from both supporters and opponents of the first female Prime Minister of the UK.
Within hours of its 7am installation last Sunday, it had already been egged by a man later revealed to be 59-year-old Jeremy Webster, a deputy director at the Attenborough Arts Centre at the University of Leicester.
Mr Webster’s mother-in-law recently described his actions as “childish”.
Quoted in the MailOnline she said: “Margaret Thatcher lasted a long time in power. She was a trailblazer as the first woman prime minister and she had such energy, even though I know she slept very little.
“I’m very surprised to hear about all of this [egg throwing]. I’m going to have to call my daughter. I wouldn’t have thought Jeremy would be the sort of person to do this. It seems very childish to me – he has a responsible job.”
There have been reports of other antisocial behaviour taking place including people urinating up the statue, but investigations into these are yet to be confirmed by officials.
Away from the statue itself, others took to social media to react to the new monument.
Twitterer @BolsoverBeast thought Mr Webster’s actions should be expanded as a way to… get more people involved?
I think it would be a good idea to put Thatcher’s statue on a low loader and tow it slowly around the country so that we all have a chance to throw something at it. pic.twitter.com/uftMqr0LgR
— Chloe Schlosberg (@ChloeSchlosberg) May 19, 2022
Some called back to the fate of other statues
@Irritatedllama called back to the fate of slave trader Edward Colston who was thrown into the Bristol Harby in June 2020.
It's absolutely disgraceful that people are throwing eggs at the Margaret Thatcher statue in Grantham! We need to deploy a taskforce to give it jolly good wash!#Granthampic.twitter.com/RKftKUls4u
It wasn’t long before a parody account of the statue was set up on Twitter – nor before “she” was interacting with other parody accounts.
It was awful. I could see almost all of Grantham
— That Statue of Thatcher (@thatcher_statue) May 18, 2022
A… positive view?
There were supporters of the statue, however, Darren Grimes from GBNews was one of the few popular posts calling on people not to “give in to threats of petty vandalism”. He later posted the statue should be in parliament – where it was previously rejected from.
I honestly think Margaret Thatcher would have found this first round of petty vandalism of her statue to be utterly hilarious.
The statue looks absolutely glorious.
Almost a decade on from her passing, she’s still winding them up!
Some, like @Jonnyhibberd were more measured in their response.
I don't see a problem with a Thatcher statue and I also don't see a problem with people throwing eggs at it. Thatcher is an important part of our history, and so is what a lot of people thought about her.
— Jonathan Hibberd 🇺🇦 (@Jonnyhibberd) May 18, 2022
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