Death crash driver is fined £400 (From The Wiltshire Gazette and Herald)

Death crash driver is fined £400

Brian Johnson died in this. The woman who caused the crash was fined £400 for careless driving.A WIDOW says she is disgusted with a £400 fine handed to a Swindon woman who was involved in a crash that killed her husband.

Brian Johnson, 62, of The Mount, Trowbridge, died in December 2003 after his Ford Focus was in collision was a Ford Mondeo near Melksham.

The driver of the Mondeo, 20-year-old Shirl Osborne, of Groundwell Road, Swindon, pleaded guilty to careless driving at Bristol Crown Court where she received the fine.

Widow Brenda Johnson, 61, said the punishment was too soft.

"I think it is disgusting," she said.

"We didn't want her to go to jail but this makes what happened seem unimportant.

"I can't forgive her because then she would have won twice and we have never seen any kind of remorse.

"This is not what we wanted but there is nothing we can do about it."

Mr Johnson was pulled from the blazing wreckage of his car by two passers-by, but never regained consciousness and died in hospital three weeks later.

He suffered fractures to his skull, pelvis, and lower back, chest wounds and a broken arm.

Osborne's car was travelling south on the A350 in Beanacre when it was involved in a head-on collision with Mr Johnson's car and a Ford Fiesta travelling in the opposite direction.

She pleaded not guilty to causing death by dangerous driving at a hearing held at Swindon Crown Court at the end of last year.

Osborne was due to stand trial on June 3 but at the last minute the charge was reduced to careless driving, which she admitted.

After waiting 18 months, Mrs Johnson and her family were left fuming after a mix-up at Bristol meant they missed Osborne's case.

"We didn't have a clue what went on in there and it makes you so angry. We have been waiting 18 months and there has been no form of closure."

The former Ministry of Defence worker hopes an end to the court case will allow her to move on with her life, with the support of her three children and five grandchildren.

"They have been a great help through all of this," said Mrs Johnson. "You think it will get easier as time goes on, but it doesn't."

Osborne was also fined £100 for driving with no insurance and disqualified from driving for 12 months.

Mrs Johnson said: "It makes it even worse that she only got fined £100 for driving with no insurance. What kind of message does that send out?"

The incident also increased the demand for a Beanacre bypass, which has been under discussion for almost 40 years.

Ben Payne