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| Alexis Fleury with his girlfriend |
A driver who killed a father of two by driving on the wrong side of the road has been freed by Appeal Court judges because he is French.
Alexis Sebastien Fleury had ‘lower culpability’ for causing the death of 62-year-old David Crane than a British driver would have done, the judges ruled.
Mr Crane, of Rolvenden, Kent, was on his way home from work at 11.30pm on August 3, 2012, when his Skoda Fabia was hit head-on by Fleury’s grey Renault Laguna on the A28 near Tenterden.
Charity fundraiser Mr Crane, who was a carer for his disabled wife, suffered multiple injuries and died at the scene.
Fleury was acquitted by a jury at Canterbury Crown Court of causing death by dangerous driving but was convicted of causing death by careless driving in July and jailed for 18 months.
Yesterday Lord Justice Lloyd Jones, Mr Justice Irwin and Mr Justice Green, sitting at London’s Criminal Appeal Court, halved that sentence to nine months – meaning 25-year-old Fleury will walk free next week.
The court heard that Fleury from Orleans, central France, was driving to visit his English girlfriend, Emily Crick, in Wadhurst, East Sussex. He had travelled from France through the Eurotunnel.
Fleury performed a U-turn and was driving down the wrong side of the road, when he crashed head-on into Mr Crane’s car.
The Frenchman had been awake for 16 hours and had been driving for six and a-half hours at the time.
But his lawyers argued that there was ‘no evidence’ that he had been tired, because he napped on the shuttle through the tunnel.
Fleury said during his trial: ‘I missed my turning and decided to do a U-turn. I was driving for a few seconds and saw headlights just in front of me and boom.’
Mr Justice Irwin said: ‘This young man made a mistake at the end of his journey. As a Frenchman, used to driving on the right-hand side of the road, he remained on the right-hand side of the road after his U-turn. He did a U-turn in the dark in England and, for moments or minutes, forgot that he was not driving in France.
‘The culpability of a British driver in the same circumstances would have been very high indeed. For somebody from France, the culpability must be reduced.’
Fleury’s lawyers said outside court that the reduced sentence means he will be released from prison at the beginning of next week.
Mr Justice Irwin expressed his sympathy for Mr Crane’s family, saying: ‘He was a very good and loving father to two daughters, and a husband who looked after his disabled partner.
‘They are all terribly distraught about their loss. It is clear that he was a good man and his death has caused great loss and pain.’
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