To think that a three year jail sentence is unreasonable for the disabled pedestrian who was found guilty of causing the death of a cyclist

[DotAndCarryOne2]

The Sunday Times and The Guardian carried this story earlier this month and again today, as did GB News. Link is below. I just find it unbelievable that so much relevant information about this lady’s disability was either ignored or dismissed by the judge, and that she didn’t have adequate representation at sentencing.
https://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=&ved=2ahUKEwjj6omaqvr9AhWJbcAKHVv9DMkQFnoECAkQAQ&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.independent.co.uk%2Fnews%2Fuk%2Fhome-news%2Fcyclist-manslaughter-auriol-grey-cambridgeshire-b2294507.html&usg=AOvVaw1yOHhh6F4zfEel6m4EMYpL

Yes Exactly! it what's you have gleaned from what you've read. You don't know everything.

You've read something and decided that Grey has been a victim of miscarriage of justice. And now you're trying to portray that's a fact.

If you want to believe that, that's fine, but that's all it is, just pure speculation, not a fact.

BTW the defence lawyer is a woman not a man.
But anyway, of course the Defence lawyer is going to say the judge had dismissed Grey’s disability and, in his own words, had ‘treated her as able bodied. That's her job!

She would be a pretty shitty defence lawyer if she said everything was done properly and the judge did everything correctly.

Grey is entitled to have the best defence lawyer and the defence lawyer needs to be the best advocate for Grey.
The defence lawyer will strongly argue for Grey in the appeal.

The Appeal Judge will decide if it is true or not if the Judge failed to adequately consider the impact of Greys disabilities - not you, not the Defence Lawyer, not Greys family and not anyone on Mumsnet.

Don’t know, not qualified to judge how a partially sighted person would be affected. The defence counsel is now working pro bono on the appeal - possibly suggestive of something coming to light that had been missed at trial maybe ? As has been pointed out upthread, the defence can only work on information they have at the time, and if Grey wasn’t adequately supported, as has been reported in the press, there may well be relevant facts yet to come out.

Where on earth are you getting this inside info?!

I would be beyond furious if the person who deliberately pushed one of my family members into the road and they died. I would want the murdering b**ch to get a lot more than 3 years.

People saying Grey murdered Mrs Ward, the judge was biased and so on.

I’ve never suggested that the thread was based on anything other than what was already in the public domain. The thread was intended for debate, and instead it’s turned into a battle ground by people not prepared to accept that there are any mitigating circumstances, despite the fact that she has a disability which is substantial enough for her to be in a supported living facility run by a charity. Been castigated for leaving the thread and criticised for returning, so I’m leaving this toxic environment. You can all pat yourselves on the back for getting rid of the posters who were clearly contributing from personal and professional experience, and then running yet another OP off their own thread. You all deserve each other.

I'm not sure if im reading your post correctly, but kust to check, you are aware the defence counsel who is working pro-bono on the appeal is the SAME deference counsel Grey had in the trial and sentencing.

There might be new things that have come to light after the trial, but this defence lawyer is known for being an expert in representing people with disabilities. I can't imagine she would have missed anything.

She was not a dependent adult. The police didn’t need to inform her family. At the point of arrest she retains the right to privacy about her arrest.

OK, fair enough @DotAndCarryOne2 . I apologise if this is feeling toxic to you.

Like you said, I thought you wanted to debate and that's why I was replying to you.
You have your opinion, I have my opinion and we post it on MN.

I wonder how many critical of a “cyclist riding on the pavement” have also parked their car on one. Of course they never, ever speed and perform perfectly safe and legal overtakes. The worst drivers are the most vocal how nad cyclists are. They blame other road users for their inadequacies as a driver.

Not qualified to judge - but something the defense counsel presumably covered in court and jury and judge didnt accept. I dont get why you, who were not there, want to second guess those who were.

You appear to be saying defense counsel didnt do their job properly.

If you are defense counsel looking at what to cover then you really need to explain why a pedestrian who has been spoken to by police previously moves towards the cyclist not away from them. Also why no white stick if vision is really bad.

I drive and I’m not a cyclist but I tend to agree, simply because I do not understand the anger from drivers to cyclists. I don’t care if cyclists run red lights or whatever, it doesn’t affect me, I just give them a wide a berth as possible as it must be nerve wracking being so vulnerable on the roads.

The appeal against the sentence is only to be expected, given that it seems AG's lawyer was expecting her to get a suspended sentence. And I don't think we can read much into the pro bono aspect.

If some legal process was not followed correctly then presumably that will come to light - through the appeal, not through newspaper articles or interviews with some relative by marriage of AG. But at the moment none of us know, and all this chatter about her disability not being taken into account etc is just people's opinions.

Fwiw I think the sentence isn't too harsh; a big factor is the aggravating circumstances.
Ultimately, if the evidence was there that AG had genuinely acted in panic and there was no intention to assault the cyclist then it's unlikely she would have been charged with manslaughter, never mind convicted. If her actions had been the same, but she'd immediately been honest in her interview and admitted she'd sworn and acted aggressively, she'd probably have been convicted but with a lesser sentence. Ultimately there is clear unequivocal evidence that AG was extremely aggressive, swearing and walking towards the cyclist. She then lied, presumably because she totally understood right from wrong and knew what she'd done was dreadful. So given that context, 3 years isn't that harsh. JB

It doesn’t speak for anything other than anyone can lodge an appeal on whatever grounds they want to take a stab at.

I really would like to know how you know the inner workings of these agencies.

Or are you just making things up?

Why would the police have empathy for someone who just killed a woman?

Yes I do have bias against convicted killers. Not sorry. It’s not Question Time, we don’t have to have a balanced panel or argument.

Her defence barrister said the judge was a meanie? Colour me shocked. That’s not what barristers who lose their cases do at all 🤣

I’ve Googled and can’t find a report that said no risk assessments were ever carried out by social services on Grey and that authorities failed her. I also can’t find any that state police had to change tact when they realised someone led her away.

Its almost like it’s being made up 🤔

So why would police inform relatives they don’t even know exist?! Do you really think when independent people are arrested that the police call their closest family members? Thankfully police wouldn’t do this without permission as they realise not all family members get on with each other or can keep their gobs shut

How do you know they didn’t make a referral to SS? It’s likely they did. Why would they put that in the trial? But even with social services involvement they can’t force family being involved.

You act like it’s a bad thing people being invested in victims rather than killers.

I’m shocked she only got 3 years. Probably won’t even serve half of that. There is no excuse for what she did. The driver also gave a statement in which she said the incident has basically ruined her life as well. No criminal justice in this country.

Is it well documented?? Or just a throwaway comments said on here by someone local to this woman?

I can’t find it anywhere in any news reports.

Oh bless, OP thought she was giving a professional and knowledgable opinion.

Ironically cyclists who kill pedestrians get lighter sentences, one that received a lot of publicity was Charlie Alliston. Just this week Seb Dance , deputy Mayor of London has said that cyclists fail to stop in areas where there is pedestrian priority and he was punched in the face when he caught up with one group. He said cyclists are aggressive towards pedestrians.

I haven't read the Times Article but have seen several news items. We know this was a retrial. About 5 mins of the police interviews with Ms Grey were published in the press. I'd have expected a solicitor or a social worker to have intervened and made a statement. As Ms Grey didn't testify in court the Judge made an assessment of her capacity on the police interviews. When CPS gave authority to charge Ms Grey it's unlikely a barrister had been instructed. I worked with disabled adults for 20 years and I'm of the view she may appear to be more capable than she is.

She was represented by an experienced barrister from 5pb in the Inner Temple who's appealing her prison sentence and whose request for bail while an appeal went through was dismissed. We do need to question decisions like these if we feel they're inappropriate.

This was a very sad case with the death of the cyclist and the trauma caused to the motorist. Nothing can alter the pain these families have suffered.

Ironically cyclists who kill pedestrians get lighter sentences,

yet you can kill with a car and not face prison, it seems those that are licences and using a 2 ton machine get away much lighter for their errors even when doing something they shouldn’t.

Esme Weir
lennon Toland

or This case with an epileptic drug taking driver killing a child and he gets 4 years in proportion to this pedestrian it’s bizarre