Great-grandfather who caused wife's death in East Yorkshire crash spared jail

An elderly driver who caused a crash that killed his wife has walked free from court after a judge told him: "You will have to live with causing her premature death."

A court heard it was likely great grandfather John Collins, 81, had been distracted by something happening near a garden centre when he collided with a petrol tanker on the A1079 York Road at Shiptonthorpe, East Yorkshire, on 14 December 2021.

Collins' wife Carol, 79, who was in the passenger seat, suffered several broken bones and was taken to hospital. She died eight days later.

Sentencing him at Hull Crown Court Judge Mark Bury said Collins would have to live with the consequences for the rest of his life and there was no public interest in jailing him.

Mr and Mrs Collins, of Buttermere Road in Goole, were returning from visiting their son and his family in Pocklington when the collision happened.

He failed to take a left-hand bend, "overshooting", before trying unsuccessfully to correct it.

The Honda Jazz collided with a petrol tanker coming in the opposite direction.

Mrs Collins died from her injuries on 22 December.

Jeremy Evans, prosecuting, said the incident had been caused by a brief distraction.

"We are dealing with a matter of seconds," he said. "We are talking about two-and-a-half seconds."

Alex Menary, mitigating, said that the impact of the accident on the family of Collins had been profound.

He said: "The ripples are significant and continue to spread."The impact of this accident is that he lost his life partner of many years. He has now been living with this, and what happened, for two years."

Judge Bury told Collins: "You will have to live with the knowledge that her premature death was caused by your poor driving. You were involved in a brief but avoidable distraction. This wasn't simply a momentary lapse in concentration."You weren't committing any road offences. You weren't speeding. Because of a lapse in concentration, which was more than momentary, this tragic accident happened."There is no public interest in sending you to prison immediately."

Collins admitted was originally charged with causing death by dangerous driving but the prosecution accepted a guilty plea to causing death by careless driving.

He was given a six-month suspended prison sentence and banned from driving for a year.

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