Another travesty of the so-called justice system.

A driver who killed a cyclist spent a week trying to cover up the fatal crash – but has been spared jail by a judge.

Scott Walker, aged 43, died from “catastrophic” head injuries sustained when Ian McFarlane knocked him off his bike on the A917 Elie to St Monans Road in Fife on 8 July 2019, reports Courier.co.uk (link is external).

McFarlane, aged 76 and from Dundee, pleaded guilty last month at Dundee Sheriff Court to failure to stop and report the collision and to driving while uninsured, the only offences with which he was charged in connection with the fatal crash.

The court heard that the wing mirror (sic) of the car he was driving was found at the scene by police, who identified it as belonging to a Vauxhall Astra made between 2005 and 2009.

Extensive enquiries led officers to McFarlane’s estranged wife, in whose name the vehicle was registered. He had visited her immediately after the collision, but in the following days denied involvement in the crash.

Police discovered that he had visited two garages in the week after the incident to try and have the car’s damaged bodywork repaired and the wing mirror (sic) replaced.

When he was eventually tracked down by police, he claimed that he had intended to hand himself in the following day. (YEAH - RIGHT)

Sentencing McFarlane to 225 hours of unpaid work and banning him from driving for nine months, Sheriff Gregor Murray told him: "Extensive publicity was given to police efforts to trace you and your vehicle.

“You failed to contact the police. You implemented a scheme to prevent your identity being discovered. Only diligent police work enabled your identity to be revealed.

“The public requires to be protected from those who seek to interfere with the administration of justice. A custodial sentence would be wholly justified.

“The maximum period of imprisonment I can impose for the failure to stop is six months. That would not adequately reflect the gravity of the offence.

“I must take into account other factors. There is no suggestion the collision was as a result of the driving on your part.”

McFarlane expressed no remorse for his actions and failed to apologise to the victim's family.

After he was sentenced Mr Walker’s sister, Sharon Iddir, said: "We were let down in there. It's not what we were expecting and it's not what should have happened.

"He knew what he was doing. He has showed no remorse whatsoever," she added..

A DISGUSTING SENTENCE.

https://road.cc/content/news/driver-who-killed-cyclist-spent-week-covering-crash-283701

On 28/05/2021 08:20 pm, swldx...@gmail.com wrote:

> Another travesty of the so-called justice system.
>
> A driver who killed a cyclist spent a week trying to cover up the fatal crash – but has been spared jail by a judge.
>
> Scott Walker, aged 43, died from “catastrophic” head injuries sustained when Ian McFarlane knocked him off his bike on the A917 Elie to St Monans Road in Fife on 8 July 2019, reports Courier.co.uk (link is external).
>
> McFarlane, aged 76 and from Dundee, pleaded guilty last month at Dundee Sheriff Court to failure to stop and report the collision and to driving while uninsured, the only offences with which he was charged in connection with the fatal crash.
>
> The court heard that the wing mirror (sic) of the car he was driving was found at the scene by police, who identified it as belonging to a Vauxhall Astra made between 2005 and 2009.
>
> Extensive enquiries led officers to McFarlane’s estranged wife, in whose name the vehicle was registered. He had visited her immediately after the collision, but in the following days denied involvement in the crash.
>
> Police discovered that he had visited two garages in the week after the incident to try and have the car’s damaged bodywork repaired and the wing mirror (sic) replaced.
>
> When he was eventually tracked down by police, he claimed that he had intended to hand himself in the following day. (YEAH - RIGHT)
>
> Sentencing McFarlane to 225 hours of unpaid work and banning him from driving for nine months, Sheriff Gregor Murray told him: "Extensive publicity was given to police efforts to trace you and your vehicle.
>
> “You failed to contact the police. You implemented a scheme to prevent your identity being discovered. Only diligent police work enabled your identity to be revealed.
>
> “The public requires to be protected from those who seek to interfere with the administration of justice. A custodial sentence would be wholly justified.
>
> “The maximum period of imprisonment I can impose for the failure to stop is six months. That would not adequately reflect the gravity of the offence.

Imposing the *maximum* for an offence doesn't reflect the gravity of it?

> “I must take into account other factors. There is no suggestion the collision was as a result of the driving on your part.”

Not to blame for the accident, but only to blame for failing to stop,
and getting the maximum penalty for that?

So what's the problem here?

> McFarlane expressed no remorse for his actions and failed to apologise to the victim's family.

He refused to apologise for an incident for which there is no suggestion
that he was responsible?

How outrageous.

Most posters here would have no difficulty in apologising for thisgs
which were not their fault, I expect.

Well, I hope, at least.

> After he was sentenced Mr Walker’s sister, Sharon Iddir, said: "We were let down in there. It's not what we were expecting and it's not what should have happened.
>
> "He knew what he was doing. He has showed no remorse whatsoever," she added.
>
> A DISGUSTING SENTENCE.

Don't be so hard on her.

Just like you, she might not have had the opportunity to attend a
grammar school.

How do you say the sentence ought to have been constructed?

> https://road.cc/content/news/driver-who-killed-cyclist-spent-week-covering-crash-283701

On Friday, May 28, 2021 at 8:20:22 PM UTC+1, swldx...@gmail.com wrote:
Titanus | 129 posts | 9 hours ago
0 likes

The guy was very lucky not to be sent down. He should be thankful for having a great judge. Its mostly because the old fart is about the same age as Ben Nevis that he didn't go to prison. You can imagine what the other prisoners would do to an old codger so the judge had to make a judgment call here.. Sending him to jail would effectively be sentencing him to death, which isn't a thing anymore.

>
> https://road.cc/content/news/driver-who-killed-cyclist-spent-week-covering-crash-283701

On 29/05/2021 12:03 pm, swldx...@gmail.com wrote:

> On Friday, May 28, 2021 at 8:20:22 PM UTC+1, swldx...@gmail.com wrote:
> Titanus | 129 posts | 9 hours ago
> 0 likes

> The guy was very lucky not to be sent down.

Perhaps not being guilty of causing the collision - with that being
particularly remarked upon by the judge - worked in his favour?

It always helps to be *not guilty*.

Turing to the offences of which the driver *was* guilty, the law does
treat failure to stop after an accident (even one which is not your
fault, as indeed this one was not this driver's fault) as a serious
enough matter, with penalties ranging from licence endorsement to
disqualification. Plus fines, costs and "victim surcharges" (even in
victimless offences). The report says the driver was disqualified.

The law also treats driving without insurance as a similarly serious
matter, with penalties broadly similar to those available for "failing
to stop" offences. The report says the driver was disqualified.

He got a nine-month driving disqualification, which is 50% more than one
might have expected on a straight endorsement totting-up calculation.
And then there's the little matter of this 76-yr-old man also being
sentenced to 225 hours on unpaid work. That's the equivalent of about
six week's full-time employment (a stiff penalty for someone well into
retirement, I suggest), and I bet *he* won't be allowed to post to
Usenet while he's supposed to be working.

> He should be thankful for having a great judge. Its mostly because the old fart is about the same age as Ben Nevis that he didn't go to prison. You can imagine what the other prisoners would do to an old codger so the judge had to make a judgment call here. Sending him to jail would effectively be sentencing him to death, which isn't a thing anymore.

Are you *really* going to stick with your whole nonsensical "thing" that
the courts should impose unlawful and non-existent sentences on people
unlucky enough to be involved in accidents which were clearly stated not
to be their fault?

Why not call for him to be hanged, then? Or garotted? It would be just
as lawful as the utterly stupid suggestions that you and Collins
habitually make, wouldn't it? Do you understand how deranged you manage
to make yourself sound?

>> https://road.cc/content/news/driver-who-killed-cyclist-spent-week-covering-crash-283701

On 29/05/2021 04:00 pm, JNugent wrote:
> On 29/05/2021 12:03 pm, swldx...@gmail.com wrote:
>
>> On Friday, May 28, 2021 at 8:20:22 PM UTC+1, swldx...@gmail.com wrote:
>>   Titanus | 129 posts | 9 hours ago
>> 0 likes
>
>> The guy was very lucky not to be sent down.
>
> Perhaps not being guilty of causing the collision - with that being
> particularly remarked upon by the judge - worked in his favour?
>
> It always helps to be *not guilty*.
>
> Turing to the offences of which the driver *was* guilty, the law does
> treat failure to stop after an accident (even one which is not your
> fault, as indeed this one was not this driver's fault) as a serious
> enough matter, with penalties ranging from licence endorsement to
> disqualification. Plus fines, costs and "victim surcharges" (even in
> victimless offences). The report says the driver was disqualified.
>
> The law also treats driving without insurance as a similarly serious
> matter, with penalties broadly similar to those available for "failing
> to stop" offences. The report says the driver was disqualified.
>
> He got a nine-month driving disqualification, which is 50% more than one
> might have expected on a straight endorsement totting-up calculation.
> And then there's the little matter of this 76-yr-old man also being
> sentenced to 225 hours on unpaid work. That's the equivalent of about
> six week's full-time employment (a stiff penalty for someone well into
> retirement, I suggest), and I bet *he* won't be allowed to post to
> Usenet while he's supposed to be working.
>
>> He should be thankful for having a great judge. Its mostly because the
>> old fart is about the same age as Ben Nevis that he didn't go to
>> prison. You can imagine what the other prisoners would do to an old
>> codger so the judge had to make a judgment call here. Sending him to
>> jail would effectively be sentencing him to death, which isn't a thing
>> anymore.
>
> Are you *really* going to stick with your whole nonsensical "thing" that
> the courts should impose unlawful and non-existent sentences on people
> unlucky enough to be involved in accidents which were clearly stated not
> to be their fault?
>
> Why not call for him to be hanged, then? Or garotted? It would be just
> as lawful as the utterly stupid suggestions that you and Collins
> habitually make, wouldn't it? Do you understand how deranged you manage
> to make yourself sound?
>
>>> https://road.cc/content/news/driver-who-killed-cyclist-spent-week-covering-crash-283701

I should have added: the report says the driver was disqualified; so now
he's a cyclist, nothing more than that, for some months at least.

On Saturday, May 29, 2021 at 12:03:01 PM UTC+1, swldx...@gmail.com wrote:
Andy533 | 9 posts | 4 hours ago
1 like

So the police catch a man who killed someone through good detective work.

A man who was so morally corrupt, drunk or whatever he didn't stop to help.

A man who tried to hide his crime whilst driving illegally and he doesn't go to jail.

The judge or the system isn't fit. There has to be consequences for killing people.

So the justice system focussing on the rights of the criminal.

So a justice system run for criminals, paid for by you and me.

>
> >
> > https://road.cc/content/news/driver-who-killed-cyclist-spent-week-covering-crash-283701

On 29/05/2021 06:40 pm, swldx...@gmail.com wrote:

> On Saturday, May 29, 2021 at 12:03:01 PM UTC+1, swldx...@gmail.com wrote:
> Andy533 | 9 posts | 4 hours ago
> 1 like
>
>
> So the police catch a man who killed someone through good detective work.

He "killed" someone through good detective work?

> A man who was so morally corrupt, drunk or whatever he didn't stop to help.
>
> A man who tried to hide his crime whilst driving illegally and he doesn't go to jail.
>
> The judge or the system isn't fit. There has to be consequences for killing people.

Why don't you report the judge to the police?

> So the justice system focussing on the rights of the criminal.

Especially the ones not guilty of causing collisions.
>
> So a justice system run for criminals, paid for by you and me.

Which bit of the judge's remarks to the defendant...

"...There is no suggestion the collision was as a result of the driving
on your part..."

....are you (and the totallyu risible road.cc) finding it too difficult
to understand?

>>> https://road.cc/content/news/driver-who-killed-cyclist-spent-week-covering-crash-283701

The only offences committed by the driver - not that they ought to be
trivialised; they're certainly serious enough - were:

(a) driving whilst uninsured and

(b) failing to stop after the collision which the driver did not cause.

Anyway, now he's just a cyclist. He's fully qualified for that of
course, but not to drive a motor vehicle, for a while at least.