A Whaplode Drove mother says failings that led to a driver killing her daughter in a hit and run incident are being ‘swept under the carpet’.
Amy Cooper (20) was left to die by the side of the road by driver Shane Kelk after he’d knocked her off her motorbike in November 2022.
An inquest into her death wasn’t held due to the court proceedings, which saw Kelk, of no fixed abode, jailed for eight years and three months in February 2023.
But last year a Serious Further Offence report commissioned by the probation service was presented to Amy’s family, including her mum Amanda.
“It contained a catalogue of errors in the management of his case, initially the most upsetting of which was their knowing he was driving while disqualified but taking no steps to prevent it,” said Amanda who says at least seven conditions of being out on licence had been broken by Kelk.
“It took a while to absorb the contents of this 76 page report but gradually we came to realise that he had breached the terms of his license so many times that he should have been recalled to prison, but no one took the responsibility to make that happen.
“Not only should he not have been driving, but he also should not have been at liberty at all.
“Throughout the report there is a tone of indifference to driving offences and this compounds a systemic trivialisation of road crime throughout the justice system.”
The family approached the coroner with a request to reopen the inquest on the grounds of new information becoming available.
The coroner can create a Regulation 28 order, known as a Prevention of Further Death order.
It would mean the relevant authority would have 56 days to show it had made changes to its workings suggested by the coroner.
The Coopers’ request was turned down.
“We were turned down on the grounds that dangerous driving does not pose a high enough risk”, Amanda continued.
“This made us feel that the failings were being swept under the carpet and that Amy’s life, and that of all road users, held no value to the justice system.
“Given the continuous carnage on Britain’s roads, you would hope that the authorities would take every precaution possible to prevent more deaths, but sadly it would seem not.
“The probation service is supposed to protect the public from offenders but sadly in Amy’s case they failed and the consequence was the cutting short of her life.”
Amanda and Amy’s sister Sam Pointon are continuing to raise awareness of motorcyclists and spoke to ITV news last week about their frustrations over the report.
A spokesman for the coroner’s office said: “The Coroner made a judicial decision which was explained to the family at the time.
“It is not appropriate for any further comment to be made.’
A spokesman for HM Prison and Probation Service said: “This was a terrible crime and our thoughts remain with the family and friends of Amy Cooper.
“While serious further offences are rare, they have a devastating impact and we take each one extremely seriously.
“We have taken action to address these issues, including reviewing the guidance for probation staff on assessing the risk posed by serious driving offenders.”
