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Give us laws that make killer drivers REALLY pay

One life, six months

Driver cracked jokes about teacher he ran over and killed after six hours in the pub

By Chris Brooke


A DRIVER with an appalling record of offences behind the wheel has been jailed for less than six months for mowing down and killing a schoolteacher.

Mark Webster even laughed and joked after ploughing into Anthony Wilkinson, who was out celebrating his 35th birthday.

Webster, who had been on a six-hour drinking session, refused to stop his van as his victim lay dying at the side of the road, despite pleas from his two teenage passengers.

The jobless father of three claimed he thought Mr. Wilkinson was a refugee, telling the two youths: ‘It doesn’t matter. It was only a Kosovan.’

Webster, 36, was arrested 16 hours after the accident when his passengers came forward.

He was not charged with drink-driving because by this time a breath test proved negative.

He did, however, admit careless driving, having no insurance, failing to stop, failing to report the accident and driving whilst disqualified.

Despite a record of 21 convictions for driving whilst banned dating back 20 years, magistrates in Hull were only able to sentence him to five and a half months in prison.

They also disqualified him from driving for ten years.

A spokesman for Humberside Police admitted last night that the sentence bore ‘no relation to the suffering caused’.

‘It’s a very sad story,’ he added. ‘A woman has lost her husband and a family has lost someone they care for very much under very traumatic circumstances.’

Webster will serve an additional six months as he was out of prison on licence at the time of the crash.

He had been jailed for 21 months at York Crown Court in December 2002 for a number of motoring offences including driving whilst disqualified, having no insurance and dangerous driving.

Magistrates heard how Mr. Wilkinson was celebrating in Hull when the tragedy happened on the night of April 4. Webster’s white van hit him in the back as he stepped off the kerb while trying to hail a cab.

Prosecutor Joanna Golding explained how his passengers begged him to stop.

But Webster refused, telling them to shut up.

‘He thought it was comical,’ she went on. ‘He laughed about the accident.’

Miss Golding said the maximum sentence of six months for driving whilst disqualified ‘does not reflect what Mr. Wilkinson’s family have gone through’.

Friends and family gathered for his funeral yesterday.

He was head of chemistry at Longcroft School and Performing Arts College in Beverley, East Yorkshire. Headmistress Lesley Hughes said: ‘Everyone at the school is deeply shocked and saddened by what has happened. He will be sorely missed.’

Mr. Wilkinson’s wife of eight months, Helen, said: ‘I feel lost, devastated.

‘Life is very unfair.’

David Davis, Tory MP for Mr. Wilkinson’s constituency of Haltemprice and Howden, called yesterday for courts to be given increased powers in such cases.

‘I am very strongly in favour of an extension of the law for those cases where there’s a flagrant abuse,’ he said.



Norman Brennan, director of the Victims of Crime Trust, said the punishment was ‘derisory’.

‘This man should have been locked up for years,’ he added.



(from The Daily Mail)

 

 

Notes

Magistrate – a person who acts as a judge in law court that deals with crimes that are not serious: He will appear before the magistrates tomorrow.

Constituency –any of the areas of a country that elect a representative to a parliament

MP– Member of Parliament

Vocabulary

Appalling adj.

Offence n.

a serious / minor offence

a criminal / drink-driving offence

to commit an offence: He committed several serious offences.

to be convicted of an offence: It’s the third time he’s been convicted ofa drug offence.

Offender n.

first-time offenders

sex offenders

young offenders

conviction n.:As it was her first conviction for stealing, she was given a less severe sentence.

convict v.:He has twice been convicted of robbery.

sentence / term n.

a 13-year jail sentence

a heavy / light sentence: He got a light sentence.

Sentence v.

to sentence smb. to: He was sentenced to 5 years in jail.

to pronounce sentence: The judge will pronounce sentence on the defendant this afternoon.

Prison n.

in prison: He spent a lot of time in prison. (=in jail)

to go to / be sent to prison: She was sent to prison for six months.

to put smb. in prison: They should put him in prison and throw away the key.

to be out of prison

Prisoner n.

to hold / keep / take smb. prisoner: The pilot and several passengers were held prisoner by the gunmen for 52 hours.

imprison v.: He was imprisoned in 1975 for attempted murder.

Jail n.

to be jailed = to be sent to prison

to be released from jail: The financier was released from jail last week.

in jail = in prison: They spent ten years in jail for fraud.

Charge n.

criminal charge: The 19-year-old will be appearing in court on Thursday where she will face criminal charges.

on a charge of: He has been arrested ona charge of murder.

to bring a charge of smth. against smb.: The police brought a charge of theft against him.

Charge v.

to be charged with: He’s been charged with drink-driving.

Claim n.

to make claims about: He made claims about being able to cure cancer.

to make no claims to be smth.: I make no claims to be a brilliant pianist, but I can play a few tunes.

Claim v.

to claim that: The company claims that it is not responsible for the pollution of the river.

to claim responsibility for: An unknown terrorist group has claimed responsibility for this morning bomb attack.

Insurance n.

Insure v.

to be insured against: Our house is insured against accidental damage.

to be insured to do smth.: I’m not insured to drive his car.

Traumatic adj.

trauma n.: He had psychotherapy to help him deal with his childhood trauma.

Crash n.

a car crash: She had a crash on the way to work. / They were only slightly injured in the car crash.

crash v.: We skidded on the ice and crashed into another car.

devastated adj.: She was utterly devastated when her husband died.

Devastating adj.

devastating news

Devastate v.

Driving n.

careless / dangerous driving

drink-driving

to disqualify smb. from driving

Accident n.

to report an accident

Breath test

 

Exercises

I. Comprehension. Answer the following questions:

1. What was Mark Webster jailed for?

2. What did he feel when he ran over Anthony Wilkinson?

3. Under what circumstances did the accident happen?

4. How did Webster account for the fact that he hadn’t stopped his van?

5. Were there any witnesses to the accident?

6. When was Webster arrested?

7. What did a breath test show?

8. What offences did Webster admit?

9. What prison term was he sentenced to? Was the sentence adequate?

10. What is the position of Wilkinson’s constituency authorities?

 

II. Vocabulary. Choose the most appropriate explanation for the following words and phrases:


To mow smb. down

a. to drive a vehicle into smb.

b. to imprison smb.

c. to frighten by shooting at smb.

To plough into

a. to dig

b. to hit

c. to plant

d. to kick

To come forward

a. to enter a room or building

b. to be useful for a particular purpose

c. to offer to give help or information

To care for

a. to deal with

b. to love

c. to look for

d. to help

Appalling

a. shocking and very bad

b. causing a strong feeling of disgust

c. making people happy

Flagrant

a. noticeable by being brightly coloured

b. behaving in a way that is not responsible or expected

c. shocking because of being so obvious

Derisory

a. unable to control

b. ridiculous

c. depressing

d. enjoyable

Offence

a. crime

b. privilege

c. misuse


 


III. Vocabulary. Fill in the blanks with the appropriate words and word combinations from the vocabulary list:

1. The police examined all the facts and have decided not to _____ _____ against him.

2. Many people believe that putting an offender _____ _____ isn’t a cure for crime.

3. Driving while drunk is a serious _____.

4. For age reasons they don’t usually imprison _____ _____.

5. My flat is _____ against fire.

6. The car _____ _____ a tree and burst into flames.

7. A _____ _____ showed that the driver was intoxicated. He was fined for _____ _____.

8. Why was your brother _____ _____ driving?

9. Has anyone _____ responsibility _____ the explosion in the Central square?

 

IV. Writing. The One life, six months story is about 500 words long. Write a shorter version of it, in not more than 200 words. Keep all the important facts but leave out all the unnecessary details.

 

 

Text 2

The day before The Sun ran the same story of the drunk driver killing the schoolteacher. In the next issue of the newspaper there appeared an article in the section Sun Campaign for Justice. Read it and do the exercises below.

 

Give us laws that make killer drivers REALLY pay

Soft sentences must stop


Date: 2015-12-24; view: 1418


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