Notts man sentenced to 14 months for causing friend’s death in road smash

A 20-year-old man has been sentenced to 14 months in a young offenders’ institute for causing the death his friend in a collision as they travelled home from a night out in Retford town centre over 18 months ago.
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Eighteen-year old Thomas Chambler was killed when the Ford Ranger pick-up truck he and his friends were travelling in left the road on the A638 Great North Road at Markham Moor, south of Retford, at around 3.15am on Saturday 12th October 2013.

It was initially suggested Mr Chambler had been travelling as a back seat passenger alongside three friends when the driver – Benjamin Huddlestone, 20, of Mark Lane, East Markham – lost control of the vehicle.

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However, it soon became clear to collision investigators that Chambler had in fact been travelling in the cargo area with the vehicle’s metal shutters rolled over him throughout their five-mile journey prior to the collision.

A post mortem examination revealed Mr Chambler died from multiple injuries after the vehicle overturned.

Huddlestone was sentenced at Nottingham Crown Court, where he was also disqualified from driving for four years.

He had initially pleaded not guilty to causing death by dangerous driving before pleading guilty at a later hearing on Tuesday 26 May 2015 to causing death by careless driving. This was the first time he had accepted that Chandler was travelling in the cargo area of the vehicle.

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Speaking after the sentencing yesterday (Thursday 28th May) Detective Sergeant James Greely from East Midlands Serious Collision Investigation Unit (EMSCIU) said: “This is a particularly tragic case where an error of judgement and losing control of the vehicle has cost the life of a young man who had his whole life ahead of him.

“Over the course of this complex investigation, police crash investigators have established the absolute facts to establish how one family came to lose a son, brother and grandson.

“We hope this conviction will be of some comfort to Thomas’ family, to who we are continuing to offer our ongoing support and condolences.”

PICTURED: Benjamin Huddlestone (top) and Thomas Chambler.

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