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Widow's relief as killer driver's sentence upheld
The widow of a 70-year-old Leyland man killed in a road crash has spoken of her relief after a court upheld the jail sentence given to the man responsible.
Patrick Rickard died when Shakil Iqbal Khokhar attempted an overtaking manoeuvre that one witness described as 'impossible' last September on a road near Skipton.
His widow Janet Rickard said people must realise that 'when they jump in a car it is like having a gun in their hands.'
She said: "We all make mistakes, none of us are flawless. But a car is a lethal weapon and you must treat it with respect."
Mr Rickard was killed when Khokhar, from Bradford , swung out in front of two cars, clipped an oncoming Toyota van, and careered into the path of Mr Rickard's Peugeot van.
Just seconds before his fatal manoeuvre, Khokhar had overtaken a line of vehicles, comprising an HGV and four cars.
The 30-year-old, of Fitzroy Road, Bradford, was jailed for three years and two months at Bradford Crown Court in May after he admitted causing death by dangerous driving.
In an unusual stand-off both the prosecution and the defence took their case to the Appeal Court.
The prosecution claimed it was an 'unduly lenient' sentence given his 'prolonged course of aggressive driving' while his defence wanted the 38-month penalty reduced.
However Lord Justice Scott Baker dismissed both applications and left the sentence unchanged.
For more on this story, see this week's Leyland Guardian
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Weather for Leyland
Thursday 24 May 2012
Today
Sunny
Temperature: 14 C to 20 C
Wind Speed: 12 mph
Wind direction: North west
Tomorrow
Sunny
Temperature: 12 C to 23 C
Wind Speed: 15 mph
Wind direction: East
