'He got away with murder'

By Claire Lewis
HEARTBROKEN relatives of a South Yorkshire woman killed by a lorry driver high on drugs said today: "He got away with murder".
Pamela Thurlow, aged 57, died when her taxi was struck by HGV driver Anthony Hamre on the A616 between the Stocksbridge bypass and the Woodhead Pass, near Flouch.

The 38-year-old, of Ellesmere Port, Cheshire, admitted causing death by dangerous driving aftercrashing into her while under the influence of cannabis. He was jailed for four years and given a two year driving ban at Sheffield Crown Court.

But his victim's family today criticised the sentence as too lenient.

Self-employed taxi driver Pamela, from Rossington, Doncaster, died when her Renault Laguna was hit last July while she was working.

She left a husband, three children and five grandchildren.

Distraught daughter Helen Butterworth, 36, also from Rossington, said: "He got away with murder – he killed our mum and will be out on the streets in two years.

"And if his driving ban started from the moment he was jailed he will be back on the roads straightaway – it is disgusting.

"He was a professional lorry driver, he should have known he should not have been driving, but he just carried on without a care for others.

"It was a straight road, a few hundred yards from a roundabout in good weather – the only reason he ended up on the wrong side was because he was high. He should never have been driving.

"Driving was our mum's living so she was safe and always thought about others.

"The maximum jail term he could have got was 14 years – why have these top penalties if judges don' hand them out? Two years for a life is nothing. We don't feel that justice has been done."



http://www.thestar.co.uk/news/39He-got-away-with-murder39.5141916.jp