Minehead driver sentenced for causing death of teenaged passenger

1:42pm Monday 30th July 2012 in News By Court reporter

Taunton Magistrates Court Taunton Magistrates Court

A TEENAGED driver has been handed a suspended sentence for causing the death of his 17-year-old passenger by careless driving after a crash in Crowcombe.
 

Charlie Blandford-Corp, 18, of Staunton Road in Minehead, was driving the Citroen Saxo car when it left the road and hit a tree at 3pm on January 7.
 

West Somerset Community College student Bethany-Paige Adams, of Williton, was a passenger and died at the scene as a result of the collision.
 

Blandford-Corp was sentenced today (July 30) Taunton Magistrates Court after pleaded guilty to the charge at an earlier hearing.
 

In addition to the four-month prison sentence, suspended for 18 months, he was ordered to undertake 200 hours of unpaid work and must adhere to an electronically monitored curfew between 9pm and 5am for 12 weeks starting tonight.

He also received an 18-month driving ban. 

Sentencing, the magistrate said: “We have thought long and hard about this and we are giving you the maximum penalty that we feel able to give in the circumstances of this offence and taking into account your early guilty plea.”
 

He was warned that if he breaks any of the requirements or commits another offence, he will have to serve the four-month prison sentence.

Comments(17)

Mi_Coc says...
2:03pm Mon 30 Jul 12

Were is the deterant for young people not to drive dangerously.

How can driving be classfied as careless if someone has died as a result. Surely its dangerous and put in danger the victims life resulting in death.

So

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prickles says...
5:05pm Mon 30 Jul 12

Was he not banned from driving. Where is the justice is this for the victims family. You serve longer for fraud these days. These judges need to get their heads out of their backsides and make people realise they will be sent to prison if u kill somebody through dangerous driving.

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MRA-ads says...
8:16pm Mon 30 Jul 12

He was banned from driving for 18 months which in my opinion is a joke,
Also in the court he was given the chance to say sorry for destroying my family and declined,this person has shown no remorse for what he has done to us.
His sentence will be over with in 18months yet our sentence is life.
I hope he enjoys the rest of his life after destroying ours.
Just one last thing the British justice system as far as I am concerned seems to favour the criminal and not the victim can this be right?

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I Hate CSC says...
1:03am Tue 31 Jul 12

Well what can I say except WTF? But thats Taunton magistrates for you, the judges that will send you down if you don't take your dog to the vets but will happily let people walk free if they abuse children or kill someone. This case and the case of Amy Hofmeister show without any doubt what a joke this town is. MRA-ads, I'm deeply sorry for your loss and I hope you will be appealing against this joke and insult of a sentence.

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FreeSpeech? says...
7:30am Tue 31 Jul 12

Yes the dice do seem to be loaded in the criminals favour, you seem to get bigger sentence for non payment of Council Tax, TV Licence or a speeding offence.

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Mi_Coc says...
8:50am Tue 31 Jul 12

I know someone who got fined £800 for speeding 100+ and banned for 6 months.

Yet you can take a life and its a suspended sentence it makes no sence and tag. Judges and magistrates should have to consult with members of the public before passing sentence as these are laughable.

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lector says...
12:08pm Tue 31 Jul 12

Just read an article where another 17yo female died in a road accident where boy friend lost control and hit a tree : boyfriend got charged with death by dangerous driving and sentenced to 4 years in prison and banned from driving for 5 years to start on his release. Just shows how weak our local magistrates are and out of touch with life.

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Mi_Coc says...
1:37pm Tue 31 Jul 12

lector wrote:
Just read an article where another 17yo female died in a road accident where boy friend lost control and hit a tree : boyfriend got charged with death by dangerous driving and sentenced to 4 years in prison and banned from driving for 5 years to start on his release. Just shows how weak our local magistrates are and out of touch with life.
Can't really compare the two cases as the police gather the evidence and cps make the charging decision based on the weight of evidence. In this case they choose death by careless which in itself is laughable but the the evidence must of not satisfied the criteria for dangerous and had since they didnt revised death by dangerous they brought in careless to plug the gap between that an no conviction.

For that reason the sentencing criteria is different so 4 year tariff may of been out of the magistrates reach. I don't agree with magistrates trying these cases personally. They should be forced to worl shifts with police seeing what goes before being able to make such decisions.

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Lulu2011 says...
9:28pm Tue 31 Jul 12

The boy had only been driving for a matter of months, but had had more than one accident before, writing one car off. It was only a matter of time before he had a serious accident. Some of his friends and associates would not travel in his car because they knew he was a dangerous driver. I can only hope that one day he will be man enough to accept responsibiltiy for the loss of Beth. Until he does this, he is not fit to be part of society and his sentence should not have been suspended. Prison is not just a punishment, the public need to be protected from people like him that have no regard for others, only their on "human rights" it is not a human right to drive in such a way that it is inevitable that someone will be seriously hurt or worse. He should not be allowed to drive until he is at least 25.

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lector says...
8:55am Wed 1 Aug 12

Probably careless driving as he so called cant remember anything about it !!!Yet he got out of the car and said" it wasnt my fault ," but people were calling the police seconds before the crash as he was overtaking on double white lines and driving dangerously .

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Mi_Coc says...
9:52am Wed 1 Aug 12

lector wrote:
Probably careless driving as he so called cant remember anything about it !!!Yet he got out of the car and said" it wasnt my fault ," but people were calling the police seconds before the crash as he was overtaking on double white lines and driving dangerously .
If its the case that they had witnesses giving those reports I don't understand why the charging decision was for careless. Indepaedant witness reporting overtaking on solid whites could be classfied as dangerous as understand it.

However they are becoming more prolific and I have to say that a number of roads in somerset which have safe overtaking spots which afford the driver good view have had these painted. This leaves drivers little choice but to overtake on the bends were they are not present. I know people will say don't but how many people want to overtake drivers not making progress up to the limit. .

The one passed sheppys cider are a prime example whilst wanting to stop cars overtaking on approach to taunton at bradford on tone turning, going towards wellington they leave you with option to overtake near the brow of the hill with the sheppy cider entrance not ideal. I have on more than one occasion been full offside before the end of solid white lines because it safe place to pass you have good view. Unfortunately covering straights with solid will leave many drivers with little option in their mind than to overtake in the areas without the lines no matter how unsound they may be. This is on a road that alot of people do 40mph all the way.

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I Hate CSC says...
3:29pm Wed 1 Aug 12

Drivers around here are arrogant, impatient and brain dead anyhow. Red traffic lights seem to mean nothing to them, filter lanes on roundabouts seem to be there so you can undertake the traffic and cut up drivers who are correctly obeying the lanes. Speed limits only apply to others, even our beloved Jeremy Browne knocks 50 mph past SCAT and in to town. Between Hankridge and town is a racetrack for pre pubescent idiots who's confidence far outweighs their abilities. The mobile phone ban doesn't seem to apply in Somerset either. If I was a traffic cop I'd be a very busy boy around here.
Back to the original story, if the family are reading this please, PLEASE appeal. With all the hard work Jane Hofmeister is doing trying to get justice for Amy, it's the ideal time to put a spotlight on the laughable sentences handed down by Taunton judges. I must say the sentence this idiot has got and his lack of remorse for murdering a poor innocent girl has really boiled my p*ss.

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MRA-ads says...
9:25pm Wed 1 Aug 12

Can I just say I totally agree with all of your comments but as for appealing goes we are totally exusted
with what has happend to us and we feel that all we can do now is to focus our time on greifing for our buitifull daughter which is something we have not been able to do with the court case going on.
We would like to thank everybody who has supported us throughout this difficult time.
Bethany's Dad.

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Lulu2011 says...
8:15am Thu 2 Aug 12

I Hate CSC wrote:
Drivers around here are arrogant, impatient and brain dead anyhow. Red traffic lights seem to mean nothing to them, filter lanes on roundabouts seem to be there so you can undertake the traffic and cut up drivers who are correctly obeying the lanes. Speed limits only apply to others, even our beloved Jeremy Browne knocks 50 mph past SCAT and in to town. Between Hankridge and town is a racetrack for pre pubescent idiots who's confidence far outweighs their abilities. The mobile phone ban doesn't seem to apply in Somerset either. If I was a traffic cop I'd be a very busy boy around here.
Back to the original story, if the family are reading this please, PLEASE appeal. With all the hard work Jane Hofmeister is doing trying to get justice for Amy, it's the ideal time to put a spotlight on the laughable sentences handed down by Taunton judges. I must say the sentence this idiot has got and his lack of remorse for murdering a poor innocent girl has really boiled my p*ss.
I think it is unfair to label all drivers around here like this, it is only a minority that drive in this way. I used to travel along the 358 from west somerset into Taunton every day on a school run in the morning and afternoon. One week, as an exercise I suggested to the children that they make a note of the registration numbers of the vehicles overtaking me whilst I was travellling at the speed limit. On the very first day, the same vehicle over took me on the journey into Taunton in the morning, and on the journey back in the afternoon. I did this school run every term day for over four years, and time and time again it was the same vehicles (including a taxi) that were driving dangerously. It would only take an unmarked police car patroling this (or any stretch of road) at the same time of day for a period of a few weeks to identify these drivers and deal with them accordingly, which would make these roads alot safer. I used to feel that it was not if I would be involved in an accident on the 358, but when I would be involved - there were a few near misses.

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I Hate CSC says...
1:50pm Thu 2 Aug 12

I didn't say all, but I would say it's a majority not a minority. Spend a few days travelling around Taunton itself and you'll soon be wondering how people managed to pass a driving test.

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Lulu2011 says...
4:59pm Thu 2 Aug 12

I Hate CSC wrote:
I didn't say all, but I would say it's a majority not a minority. Spend a few days travelling around Taunton itself and you'll soon be wondering how people managed to pass a driving test.
It is not the majority of drivers, and I do regularly drive in and around Taunton.

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MRA-ads says...
11:04am Sat 4 Aug 12

lector wrote:
Probably careless driving as he so called cant remember anything about it !!!Yet he got out of the car and said" it wasnt my fault ," but people were calling the police seconds before the crash as he was overtaking on double white lines and driving dangerously .
lector
Would you be able to email me and tell me how you now about the phone calls
mark.adams@matrix.uk
.com
Thanks.

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