and yes maybe the victim was to blame by walking out but the driver didnt stop and also has a string of motoring offences....so now ?100 and one year's ban is the price of a life
Anger over ?100 fine for hit-and-run death
By Chris Brayshay
VICTIM support groups reacted angrily last night after a driver who knocked down a father and left him to die walked from court with a ?100 fine and a 12-month ban.
Police initially treated the death of father-of-five Malcolm Farrow as a hit-and-run.
Mr Farrow was knocked down by a Fiat Brava car, which failed to stop, as he crossed a main road outside a social club on Teesside, on December 23 last year.
The 38-year-old electrician was pronounced dead on arrival at hospital.
The accident occurred in Cargo Fleet Lane, Middlesbrough, near the Cargo Fleet Social Club, where Mr Farrow had been drinking. Minutes earlier, he had wished his friends merry Christmas.
Unemployed Steven Brown - who had nine points on his licence after a string of motoring offences - ignored calls to stop. He later gave himself up to police.
Yesterday, he pleaded guilty to speeding at Teesside Magistrates' Court. He was fined ?100 and received three penalty points - a punishment that led to an automatic ban for 12 months under the totting up procedure.
The sentence was condemned by Mr Farrow's family, but last night Brown revealed how he still suffers flashbacks and nightmares.
He said he did not stop because he panicked and feared for his safety as revellers left the club.
The 21-year-old, of Maltby Street, North Ormesby, said: "I have flashbacks every night. I wish it had never happened.
"It was unavoidable, as far as I was concerned and as far as the police experts were concerned.
"I have suffered as much as the deceased. His family was not there, they did not see what happened.
"I was there, I know what happened that night. I know it was unavoidable. He just ran across the road."
Brown, who is on incapacity benefit because of a kidney disorder, has a two-month old daughter and his girlfriend is pregnant with a second child.
Difficulties in seeing his daughter without the aid of a car were one of the reasons Brown's solicitor, John Nixon, put to magistrates for not disqualifying his client from driving for a year.
Mr Nixon told the bench: "He expresses his regret and remorse. He wishes he could turn the clock back."
Brown has suffered from depression as a result of the accident.
Prosecuting solicitor Norman Lowson said Brown's car had been travelling faster than the 30mph speed limit.
He said: "Police officers say that had it been travelling at 30mph, the impact may have been greatly reduced and may well have resulted in less-serious injuries."
But he conceded: "The accident was occasioned to a certain extent by (Mr Farrow) stepping out into the middle of the road."
Mr Farrow's mother, Beryl, said of the sentence: "It's nothing - and a hit-and-run driver is walking.
"He still killed our son. He has taken a life. He has broken ours."
A spokeswoman for RoadPeace, the national support group for crash victims, said: "There has to be a change in the law. RoadPeace have campaigned that, when death has occurred, a case should be heard in a crown court before a judge."
Witnesses told an inquest earlier this year that Mr Farrow, who lived on Middlesbrough's Thorntree estate, had wished his friends merry Christmas before he "jogged" out into the road after leaving Cargo Fleet Social Club.
Crash investigator PC John Morton told the inquest: "In my opinion, the collision was unavoidable, even at 30mph."
