Prison let-off for sister in death-crash

Mandy Rawlinson (35) left it too late when puling out of Hucknall Road on to the Annesley bypass, Nottingham Crown Court was told.

Her sister, Angela Rawlinson (32), was in the front passenger seat of the Ford Mondeo when it collided with a Vauxhall Cavalier.

Mandy Rawlinson had previously been told she was facing prison. But at a hearing held three days before Christmas Day last week, Judge Jonathan Teare said it was a "momentary and isolated lapse of judgment".

Mandy Rawlinson, a mother-of-three of Station Road, Carlton, was devastated by the loss of her sister, said the judge. And sending her to prison would have had a significant impact on her children.

"It might be that two of them would have had to go into care," said the judge.

The sentence handed down instead was 15 months' imprisonment, suspended for two years, together with a two-year supervision order.

Mandy Rawlinson was also banned from driving for four years. The court heard she had said she did not intend driving again.

She pleaded guilty last month to causing the death of her sister by dangerous driving on December 18 last year.

At the time of the crash, she only had a provisional licence and was not being supervised. She also had no insurance.

Stephen Lowne (prosecuting) said two of Mandy Rawlinson's three children on the back seat were seriously injured. One had to spend time in intensive care.

A man who was a back-seat passenger spent two months in a coma but recovered.

In mitigation, Vanessa Marshall said Mandy Rawlinson had endured a desperately sad childhood. Her relationship with her former partner had now ended.

'Lenient' sentence blasted

A CAMPAIGNING father from Hucknall has slammed the "lenient" sentence given to learner-driver Mandy Rawlinson.

Geoff Pay, of Astral Grove, says he is furious with the punishment handed out.

Mr Pay's 18-year-old daughter, Kirsty, was killed in 2002 when she was the back-seat passenger in a 'death trap' Ford Escort XR3i when it smashed into another vehicle near Mablethorpe.

The ferocity of the impact was such that the car, which had no MOT and was bought for only 100, split in two and Kirsty's body was thrown into a field.

Mr Pay (45) has since backed an academy that will train volunteers to deliver road-safety education at schools and workplaces across the country.

But he was annoyed by the sentence given to Mandy Rawlinson. He said: "We show continuous leniency towards these offenders. She showed total disregard for the law.

"Why does society have to allow for this because she showed remorse? I am appalled by it all.

"While we show this sort of leniency, society is not going to take this sort of offence seriously.

"I feel the judge has given a light sentence because of her children. My response is: hang on a minute! She did not take the welfare of her children into account when she drove the car illegally. There was complete disregard for the law.

"I feel for the children. I don't feel for her. She should not have been kept out of prison. Given the responsibility she showed at the time, perhaps her children would be better off in a home.

"What an ideal opportunity this was for the judicial system to put the message across that this is unacceptable. I see it more and more where the judicial system is letting the police and society down."

Wendy Carter, of the road safety charity Brake, agreed that the sentence was lenient but said Mandy Rawlinson would have to live with what she had done for the rest of her life.

She added: "I hope people will hear about this and think carefully before driving. The sentence is very lenient but she does have a life sentence for dealing with it."