Excuse us, your Lordship, but we dont quite understand...

THE nation's most senior judge refused to jail Richard Crump, whose driving caused the death of a Worthing pensioner, because of his remorse and severe eczema.

The Lord Chief Justice of England and Wales, Lord Woolf, said Crump had deliberately taken the risk of shooting across a railway crossing as the barriers descended, but did not jail him for causing the death of 86-year-old Hannah O'Leary.

The judge accepted the Attorney General's arguments that the one-year suspended sentence was "unduly lenient".

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The aggravating features of the case meant a two-year jail term would have been appropriate.

Bur, Lord Wolf said the term had been justifiably suspended in light of Crump's remorse and severe eczema which afflicts him.

The judge described how Crump, with two passengers in his car, "shimmied" through the railway crossing on South Farm Road, Worthing, as the barriers descended, lights flashed and warning bells rang on the afternoon of January 18, 2001.

He hit Mrs O'Leary, a widow, as she was crossing the road, causing multiple injuries. She died of heart failure on February 14, 2001.

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Crump, 30, of Charminster, Bournemouth, later told police: "I had to make a snap decision. I was confronted by a red light and she stepped out from the side of the road in front of me."

He claimed his passengers had egged him on to shoot the crossing.

Lord Woolf said Crump, who had two previous speeding convictions, suffers from disabling eczema which would have been difficult to treat in prison.

He had expressed severe remorse and a psychiatrist had reported he showed signs of post traumatic stress disorder.

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The sentencing judge had decided there were "exceptional circumstances" justifying him in suspending the sentence.

Lord Woolf accepted the Attorney General's arguments that there were serious aggravating features in the case and that, in normal circumstances, Crump should have been jailed for two years.

But he ruled the crown court judge had nevertheless been entitled to suspend the sentence as an "act of humanity".

Crump's eczema was "undoubtedly serious and difficult to treat" and the prison service would face "extreme difficulty" in dealing with it.

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With the case hanging over his head for so long, the judge said Crump's medical condition had deteriorated.

Lord Woolf added the court was taking into account the fact that Crump was facing the stressful "double jeopardy" of being, in effect, sentenced for a second time.

Recognising that Crump's original one-year suspended sentence had been "unduly lenient", Lord Woolf doubled the suspended term to two years.

His four-year driving ban will remain in place and Crump will then have to take an extended driving test to get his licence back.

What do you think of this decision? Write with your views to The Editor, Worthing Herald, Cannon House, Chatsworth Road, Worthing BN11 1NA

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