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Freed
to Kill...
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| Banned driver high on
drink and drugs killed couple after loophole stopped police confiscating
his car... |
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| When police caught banned
motorist Craig Cording driving, they weren't allowed to stop him
re-offending by confiscating his car. Despite his appalling record
of repeatedly driving while disqualified, officers had little option but
to release him on bail pending his next court appearance. |
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| Hours later Cording was back
behind the wheel, driving like a madman, high on drink and drugs, and this
time he killed a young couple in a head-on smash. The 23-year-old
also died in the crash which happened after he overtook on the blind brow
of a hill, an inquest heard. |
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| Yesterday a coroner spoke out
to highlight the legal loophole after hearing how Emma Jowitt, 18, and
Darren Downes, 19, died. Alan Benstock, Deputy Coroner of West
Yorkshire, vowed to write to the 'appropriate authorities' about the rule
which stopped police seizing Cording's car. He said: 'In my 11 years
as a coroner I don't think I have ever seen such an appalling crash
report. |
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| This is the most tragic road
accident I have dealt with.' Under the Police Reform Act 2002,
officers have the power to seize vehicles causing a nuisance. The
act permits police to confiscate cars driven 'without due care and
attention... or reasonable consideration for other users... or if likely
to cause alarm, distress or annoyance to members of the public'. |
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| It does not extend to seizing
vehicles of banned drivers simply because they are behind the wheel.
The day before the crash in September last year, Cording was arrested,
questioned, released on police bail and ordered to appear in court in
connection with the breach of his driving ban, the inquest in Wakefield
heard. |
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| Mr Benstock said: 'Police
have admitted there was nothing that they could do about confiscating that
vehicle - the very vehicle that was involved in a collision which led to
the death of three people.' He recorded unlawful killing verdicts
for the deaths of Mr Downes and his girlfriend, and a misadventure verdict
for Cording, who would have been prosecuted for causing death by dangerous
driving if he had survived. |
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| Cording, of Pontefract, West
Yorkshire, was almost three times the drink-drive limit and had cannabis
in his system when he crashed his Peugeot 405 at 9.30pm. Witnesses
told the hearing they had seen Cording driving round the area near
Pontefract Golf Club, where the smash took place, for two hours before the
collision. |
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| Motorist Jane Spragg spotted
him driving aggressively and was so intimidated when he started chasing
her that she drove straight to a police station to report him. Tests
showed that neither Mr Downes, a builder from Lupset, nor Miss Jowitt, an
office worker from Wakefield, had been drinking. |
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| Miss Jowitt's parents, Dennis
and Lynne, said: 'Emma was a perfect match for Darren. They had so
much to look forward to - two innocent, irreplaceable people for both
families.' |
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| In April senior police
officers urged the courts to impose tougher sentences on the most serious
motoring offenders and use powers to confiscate vehicles more often.
Last night a Home Office spokesman said: 'Generally we do not feel it is
appropriate for police to deprive people of their property without a court
order.' |
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| However, he said the
Department of Transport was planning to introduce legislation giving
police powers to seize vehicles driven by uninsured drivers. |
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| Comment... |
| As we've said
before... the major problem is a complete lack of political
will-power. Politicians are happy to pass laws and hand out fines by
the millions to the basic, law-abiding majority... but they fail to impose
the law on those who wilfully break it. |
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| Clearly, this
was a high-risk individual, and the opportunity was there to take decisive
action before it resulted in a fatal accident... and they didn't! |
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