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Original poster

AIBU to think that 61 days in prison for killing someone is an insult?

999 replies

Steaksauce · 21/02/2018 18:59

In December 2016, a friend of mine, Andy Lindup was run over and left to die in the road by the man who hit him. He was 36.

The person responsible hid his van with its broken windscreen caused when he hit my friend and kept it to himself for a fortnight until he was traced by police.

Because he left the scene, that's all he could be charged with as other evidence (drinking for example) couldn't be proven.
As a result, he was given 4 months in prison and served only 61 days. For taking a life.

Andy's family are campaigning to get the law changed so that leaving the scene carries the same sentence as death by dangerous driving. The way the law is at the moment, there is almost an incentive to drive away.

The petition is here petition.parliament.uk/petitions/208008

And some more detail about the case and the campaign from Andy's dad here: eveshamobserver.co.uk/news/hit-and-run-family-in-sentence-review-call/

Please sign the petition, this crime is tragically so common and devastates so many lives and the sentences given out are a joke and an insult to grieving families.
It's not the judges and the police at fault, the man who killed Andy was given the maximum sentence for that charge, it's the law that's wrong.

Thank you for reading and for signing and feel free to share on Facebook/Twitter/anywhere else to help raise the profile of this campaign.

OP posts:
Original poster
Steaksauce · 18/03/2018 17:58

@5plusMeAndHim what exactly are you trying to achieve? Hmm

Do you think then that people should be able to leave the scene if they hit someone and leave them to die?

As I've said, this isn't just about this one case. This is about a campaign to rectify a law that isn't fit for purpose.
If all you want to do is derail the campaign and try to be controversial then just move along.
Start your own thread and don't trample on other people's emotions when you do.
Oh and don't say you're sorry when it's clear you aren't. I don't need your insincere lip service.

OP posts:
CoalitionOfChaos · 18/03/2018 18:00

Signed 3724.
He looks like a lovely and much loved man.
Sorry for your loss.

AWaspOnAWindowInAHeatwave · 18/03/2018 19:52

Signed and shared. 💐 for you, for Andy's family and for all the posters who have lost loved ones too.

chewablemunchkin · 18/03/2018 19:55

Signed.

NeverTwerkNaked · 18/03/2018 22:36

Glad to see more signatures Smile

Waddlelikeapenguin · 19/03/2018 00:59

3731

Waves at anyone who popped over from the other petition Flowers

Whatsmymethod · 19/03/2018 17:24

3738 👋

NeverTwerkNaked · 19/03/2018 19:26

Would love to see it hit 10,000

DonutCone · 19/03/2018 19:42

Google Alison Dray. She hit and killed a man whilst searching for a holiday on her phone. Got 6 months and kept her job in the Army which is funny considering you get a dishonorable discharge for failing a drugs test.

There are some shockingly pathetic sentences being handed out.

BollySBK · 19/03/2018 20:03

Signed... 3743. Thoughts are with you.💐

NoSwsForYou · 19/03/2018 20:48

16 years ago two girls I went to school with were hit by a van whilst walking home one night. One of them died from horrific injuries and the other barely survived and had brain damage. The driver left the scene and was found a few days later. He got 100 hours community service.

100 hours.

Meanwhile, my brother, her boyfriend and some other friends slept by her grave for a week after she was buried.

They should be charged like any other murders.

Whatsmymethod · 19/03/2018 21:17

Nosws that's awful. So many sad stories

Whatsmymethod · 19/03/2018 21:18

3747

ReluctantCamper · 19/03/2018 21:21

Signed and bumpity bump.

NeverTwerkNaked · 19/03/2018 23:32

100 hours no sws , for so many lives changed forever Sad

I battled anorexia for a long time after my boyfriend’s death. His best friend took his own life a month later. Many battled with depression for many years. The “best years of our lives” at university were instead a bleak and bewildering mess. And yet so few people (really, judging by the response to this petition compared to so many more trivial ones) seem to even care.
The sentencing clearly needs an overhaul. If you choose to drive a machine with the potential to kill, then you must take that responsibility seriously. Every single time you get behind the wheel.
And if you choose to run away from an accident, instead of helping the victim, then the sentence should be very severe.

Waddlelikeapenguin · 20/03/2018 01:21

3751 bump

Flowers to those sharing stories
100 hours community service Angry

Original poster
Steaksauce · 20/03/2018 07:58

Some of these stories are heartbreaking but the "punishment" these people are given is so pathetic it makes me so angry on their behalf and their families behalf's.
Are lives of people really that worthless? Angry

OP posts:
Original poster
Steaksauce · 20/03/2018 18:27

Another bump

OP posts:
Whatsmymethod · 20/03/2018 19:54

This thread has been an eye opener for me. I assumed people would get a heavier sentence if they left the scene. It's absolutely shocking.

Whatsmymethod · 20/03/2018 19:57

3758

TheHuffAndPuffALot · 20/03/2018 20:11

Bumping for traffic. Please sign the petition!

Waddlelikeapenguin · 20/03/2018 22:54

Bump

NeverTwerkNaked · 20/03/2018 23:39

Totally agree steaksauce ...horrible that people can flee the scene and escape with such an insultingly low sentence

Whatsmymethod · 21/03/2018 11:16

One more added, 3759

Whatsmymethod · 21/03/2018 14:04

I don't understand how the threads about Ant McPartlin drink driving are so "popular" and yet this thread has to be constantly bumped!
So frustrating!