Cycling: Bridgend family 'got no justice' for son's crash death

The father of a cyclist killed by a driver who failed to brake or swerve before the fatal crash said the decision to spare him jail was a farce.

Tony Jones said his family's lives were torn apart when his son David, 41, was killed in Bridgend in May 2020.

Raymond Treharne, 74, was given a nine-month suspended sentence and a seven-year driving ban for causing his death by careless driving last month.

The Ministry of Justice said independent judges decided sentences.

"We know the devastation wreaked by those who cause death on our roads, which is why we have increased the maximum penalty for the worst offences to life behind bars," a spokesman added.

Charity Cycling UK said Treharne should have been convicted of causing death by dangerous driving rather than careless driving and called it symptomatic of the UK's "broken road traffic laws".

The court was told if Treharne had been paying attention, he would have seen the father-of-two on his bike for at least seven seconds before hitting him.

"I couldn't believe what I was hearing," said David's father Tony.

"Seven seconds is a long time when you think about it. It's long enough to react and obviously he didn't."

Speaking in his living room in Pencoed, Bridgend county, Tony said the first he knew something was wrong was when he called his son and a police officer answered.

"He said Davey had been in an accident.

"I said 'is he alright?' And he said 'I'm 99% sure he's dead'.

"I came in here and told the wife and it was chaos here - she couldn't believe it, she just broke down and she's still the same now."

He said the whole family were in complete disbelief.

"The night before he was here having steak and chips with us for his tea and that's the last time we saw him," he said.

On 29 May 2020, David, who has children aged 10 and seven, set off for an early morning bike ride as he did before work most days.

He was an experienced cyclist and was very familiar with the road he was cycling along.

Tony, a retired coach driver, said the court case was particularly hard because he knows Treharne and used to work with him.

"If he had come over and said 'I'm sorry' it wouldn't have made any difference about bringing Davey back but he would have shown a bit of remorse, but there was nothing at all."

Mr Jones added: "I couldn't believe he just walked."

He said the sentence was "a real farce" and felt the judge was "too lenient".

Treharne, of Kenfig Hill, has been approached for comment.

"Driving a car is like having a knife in your hand, it's a dangerous weapon and if you kill somebody you should get made to pay for it. He just hasn't, he's walked away free."

He said his barrister advised the family that an appeal would be unlikely to be successful because Treharne was sentenced within the sentencing guidelines for causing death by careless driving.

Andrew Taylor, a criminal barrister based at Apex Chambers in Cardiff, agrees.

He said: "I suspect because Raymond Treharne had an impeccable driving record, he'd driven professionally for many years, there was no evidence of any drink or drugs involved, there was no evidence that the vehicle was other than properly on the road with tax, MOT, insured and all the things we expect of a driver - and therefore she [Judge Catherine Richards] decided to draw back from sending him to immediate custody and she imposed a suspended sentence."

The maximum sentence for causing death by careless driving is five years, whereas causing death by dangerous driving carries a maximum of life imprisonment.

Mr Taylor added: "This is a case where a person behind a wheel, with devastating consequences, sadly doesn't keep a proper look out as we all have to do when we get behind the wheel of the vehicle.

"That of course cost the deceased his life, which is tragic, but there is nothing the learned judge did not take into account which should have been properly taken into account."

Cycling UK's campaigns manager Keir Gallagher believes the case demonstrates why the law needs to be reviewed.

"Failing to spot another road user for almost 10 seconds before crashing into and killing them is clearly a dangerous act, yet our broken road traffic laws mean Raymond Treharne was merely charged with causing death by careless driving," he said.

"The Westminster government promised to review these failing laws in 2014 but we're still waiting, and the price of delay is sadly paid again and again by families like that of David Jones."

He urged the government to commit to "its long overdue comprehensive review to bring consistency to our road traffic laws and keep responsible cyclists, pedestrians and drivers safe".

Tony said he wanted to speak out for others going through the same thing and - although he disagrees with the suspended sentence - he does not intent to appeal against it.

"It's not going to fetch him back," he said.

"He'll always be a memory and he'll always be in the heart, but is something you will never ever get over.

"You should never, ever bury your kids."