'Why is a life worth less if they’re killed by a driver?' - Legal expert bemoans sentencing disparity after cyclist deaths

A pedestrian, Auriol Grey, was sentenced to three-years in prison on Thursday for the manslaughter of 77-year-old cyclist Celia Ward

police tape
(Image credit: Getty Images)

Cycling Weekly’s own Dr Michael Hutchinson has questioned the disparity in judicial sentencing, after pedestrian Auriol Grey was jailed for three-years on Thursday by Peterborough Crown Court for the manslaughter of a 77-year-old cyclist, Celia Ward. 

Hutchinson - who previously taught law at Sussex and Cambridge Universities, and holds a doctorate in law from Cambridge - took to Twitter to question the disparity in sentencing between the three-years that Grey received, and similar sentences often handed down for causing death by careless driving, expressing his dismay at the situation. 

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Tom Thewlis
News and Features Writer

After previously working in higher education, Tom joined Cycling Weekly in 2022 and hasn't looked back. He's been covering professional cycling ever since; reporting on the ground from some of the sport's biggest races and events, including the Tour de France, Paris-Roubaix and the World Championships. His earliest memory of a bike race is watching the Tour on holiday in the early 2000's in the south of France - he even made it on to the podium in Pau afterwards. His favourite place that cycling has taken him is Montréal in Canada.