Grieving parents' anger over crash sentence (From Gazette & Herald)

Grieving parents' anger over crash sentence

THE grieving parents of a Ryedale man killed in a car crash are outraged that the man responsible for their son's death will spend only eight months behind bars.

Christopher Barlow, 19, was killed in May last year, when a car driven by his friend, Dale Downie, 21, smashed into a bridge on the A170 Pickering to Kirkbymoorside road.

He was driving at up to 74mph around a blind bend when he lost control and slammed the VW Golf's passenger side into a wall, splitting the car into three pieces.

Last month, Downie, of Howe Road, Norton, who lost a leg in the accident, was jailed for two years at Leeds Crown Court for causing death by dangerous driving.

But Kevin and Linda Barlow, of Beech Crescent, Broughton, say that his release date is already set for April 19, 2006 - only eight months into his sentence.

"Whereas Chris was the victim, it has now become Dale who is the victim," said Kevin.

"I know his release date quicker than I could get my son's death certificate. It really sticks in your throat."

Linda said: "He killed Chris. There is no two ways about that. But the law ties the judge's hands and the police did all they could. They have got to bring the law up to date to stop all this. Chris's life was just completely wasted.

"I did not want him flogged or hung, drawn and quartered, but he was given his sentence and he should have been allowed to do it."

Downie will be electronically tagged for four months after his release.

Chris's parents, his sister, Sarah, 25, his brother, Anthony, 27, and his four young nieces held a birthday party for him on Wednesday. He would have been 21. Linda said: "Chris had a good life, so much to live for. He would have found a girl of his dreams, married and had children.

"He would have made a good husband and father but that has all been taken away from him." She says the family is unsure how they will cope when Downie, who lives near Chris's brother, Anthony, is released from prison.

She recalled the anger she felt when she saw him riding a bike with his new prosthetic limb only weeks after her son had been killed.

"I can't tell you what it did to me when I saw him," she said. "He was out and about eight weeks after he killed my son.

"He has got to live somewhere but it is so soon. It's so frustrating."

Kevin said: "They said about Chris that he never suffered. Well his friends and family suffered and they are still suffering.

"People say it gets easier but it doesn't. The hurt doesn't go away."

Updated: 11:56 Wednesday, October 19, 2005