Man, 26, faces jail for causing South Wootton couple’s deaths by dangerous driving
Tragic South Wootton couple Paul Adams and Kathryn Dunn
A 26-year-old man faces a prison sentence after being found guilty of causing the deaths of a South Wootton couple in a horrific car crash nearly five years ago.
At Cambridge Crown Court on Wednesday, Ben Edwards, of Northfield Road, Soham, was convicted of causing the deaths of Paul Adams, 40, and Kathryn Dunn, 26, by dangerous driving. He had denied both charges.
Judge Gareth Hawkesworth warned him that a custodial sentence was inevitable before adjourning the case until March 5 for the preparation of a psychological report and a pre-sentence report.
Edwards was granted conditional bail and the judge imposed an interim driving ban.
After the hearing, the families of the dead couple, who lived in Peckover Way and worked at Adrian Flux insurance in East Winch, said: “We are thankful that justice has finally been achieved for Paul and Kathryn.
“We are enormously grateful to everyone involved in securing this conviction, particularly the superb Cambridgeshire police force for their hard work and determination so long after this crime was committed.
“Thank you also to our family liaison officers Stuart Cox and Chris Jupp for the support they have given us leading up to and during this trial.
“We would also like to express our gratitude to Michael Magee for the excellent presentation of the prosecution case which has led to this guilty verdict.
“It can’t bring Paul and Kathryn back to us. But knowing that justice has finally been done today may help us some way along the path to recovery from this dreadful event.”
During the three-day trial, the court heard that on March 11, 2007, Paul Adams, a father-of-two, and Kathryn Dunn had been heading to Gatwick airport for a dream holiday in the Caribbean.
But at about 5am that day, Edwards, driving his Mercedes SLK and on his way home from De Niro’s nightclub in Newmarket, rounded a bend on the wrong side of the A142 Fordham bypass and collided with the couple’s Mercedes CLK coming from the other direction.
Mr Adams and Miss Dunn, described by their families as “the perfect couple”, died instantly.
It was thought Edwards would never face trial because he had been so seriously injured in the accident.
Then 22, he had been thrown from his car and was discovered in a pool of blood by passing motorist Catherine Cantrell who, in a statement, compared the accident scene to an aircraft crash.
Michael Magee, prosecuting, said a blood sample taken at hospital before Edwards underwent a blood transfusion showed he had 68 milligrams of alcohol per 100 millilitres of blood – the legal driving limit is 80 milligrams.
But a back-calculation carried out by a forensic scientist estimated Edwards would have had 90mg of alcohol per 100ml in his system at the time of the crash – 10mg over the drink-drive limit. “He was drinking bottles of WKD Blue,” Mr Magee said.
“There was a friend of his, Thomas Preen, who saw the defendant drinking on two occasions, once at around 12.55am and the second time at around 2am.
“The crown says the cause of this fatal accident was the dangerous driving of this defendant, by driving at excessive speed whilst his ability to drive was impaired by alcohol,” he added.
Edwards, who suffers from cognitive and emotional problems as a result of the crash and cannot remember anything before, during or after the accident, spat at a reporter and threatened a photographer outside the court ahead of his trial.
Tim Kirkby, of Cambridgeshire Police’s collision investigation unit, said tyre marks made by Edwards’ nearside wheels and gouge marks in the road indicated he was on the wrong side of the carriageway when the collision occurred.
He said the speedometer in Edwards’ car, which froze on impact, also showed he was travelling at 120mph - twice the speed limit. “It is my view that Mr Edwards’ lack of steering at the entry to the bend and excessive speed were the cause of the accident,” he said.
Under cross-examination from defence barrister Mark Shelley, Mr Kirkby conceded a hard impact could cause a speedometer’s gauge to jolt forward, but said Edwards’ speedometer and the car’s rev counter were consistent to each other, suggesting any displacement was “not significant”.
He said he would “struggle” to argue Edwards’ car was not going slower than 120mph and could not rule out the possibility that Edwards was trying to avoid a hazard in the road moments before the collision.
Mr Shelley read out a number of references from people who knew Edwards, including the Rev Tim Alban-Jones, vicar of Soham, who described him as a “thoughtful and considerate person”.
He added: “I am glad to know Ben as a parishioner and a personal friend. It seems he has grown enormously as a result of the accident rather than letting the result of the accident crush him.”
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Saturday 26 May 2012
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