Browse Sections

• Education
• Special reports

'I only wish laws were tough now'

Pamela Welsh
17/ 7/2008

THE widow of a pensioner killed by a joyrider with dozens of driving convictions has backed government plans to introduce harsher sentences.

Jack Farrell was 66 when he was knocked down and killed when crossing the road in Walkden, mowed down by 26-year-old Craig Cundle.

Cundle had been in trouble for a string of motoring offences in the past, and was driving without a valid licence and without insurance when he knocked down and killed Mr Farrell.

He was jailed for four years and three months at Manchester Minshull Street Crown Court on Friday, July 11, but the presiding judge Andrew Lowcock said he was bound by guidelines which meant he could not hand down a longer jail term.

Mr Farrell’s widow, Christine, backed the calls for tougher sentences for drivers who repeatedly drive dangerously.

She said: "I think any measure to get higher sentences for these kind of people, with no regard for life, is a good thing.

"No sentence would ever be long enough for us and nothing can ever bring back my husband, but it is a pity these guidelines are not in now."

The Sentencing Guidelines Council launched their plans for the new guidelines on Tuesday, July 15, and motorists who cause death by dangerous driving could be sentenced to anything up to 14 years.

Cundle, of Bullrush Close, Walkden, had been in trouble with the police before the fatal accident, in March last year.

He won a good citizen award from Salford’s mayor in 2005 after vowing to give up his life of crime, and was volunteering for Moorside Rangers, as part of his work with the Prince’s Trust, when he caused Mr Farrell’s death.

Just seven months after the accident, he was caught by Salford police driving the same car, without insurance or a licence.

Mr Farrell’s family say they are ‘devastated’ by their loss.

His wife Christine, 66, and two daughters Vanessa Hodgkinson and Louise Cheadle, were at Minshull Street Crown Court to see Cundle sentenced.

Mrs Farrell said: "Jack was a true gentleman, a man that everyone had time for. His life was tragically cut short by the actions of Craig Cundle, and we are happy to see him get what he deserved.

"No sentence will ever bring back my husband. We are devastated by his loss."

More on this story in this week's Advertiser