Getting away with murder

I do not know Jake Mitchell, nor do I want to know him. A former resident of Stoke Gifford, Mitchell was today sentenced to five and a half years in prison for causing the death of Megan Brogan by careless driving, whilst over the prescribed alcohol limit, and failing to stop at the scene of an accident. The only decent thing he did was to plead guilty and avoid a lengthy trial.

The family have given permission to allow footage of her killing, filmed from a CCTV camera above nearby fish and chip shop, to be shown in a bid to stop others. (Click here to see it.) Unlike the cowardly Mitchell, who drove away from the scene after the incident, the family have shown unbelievable courage and genuine humanity to others. I cannot praise them enough.

Mitchell will probably serve less than three years of his sentence and he will be free again. That this was his second drink driving offence – at the age of 28 – you would hope that this time he might learn a lesson. And the human being in me, not knowing the family at all, hopes that somehow he might be rehabilitated and become a useful figure in society. He has a lot of ground to make up.

I was only about 50 yards away from this incident at the time, enjoying a pint with an old friend in my local. My friend went to catch his bus home and texted me about the aftermath which he saw as he walked round the corner. My heart sank. My first thought was that he could have been run over if it had happened a few minutes earlier, or it could have been someone else I knew. That I didn’t know Megan was of no consolation when I thought about it in the clear light of day.

I learned later that such was the power of the collision, Megan’s leg was completely severed. Mitchell could not be bothered to stick around and find out.

Whilst Mitchell will be free in a few years, Megan’s family never will be free. Perhaps he too has been traumatised by what he did, but I can’t find any sympathy for him at all. If I was a relative of Megan, I know I could never forgive him. None of this will ever bring her back, but irresponsible, idiotic actions like Mitchell’s can sometimes have consequences.

I am not a hanger or a flogger, but I feel he got away with murder. By the letter of the law, he did not intentionally kill Megan Brogan, but by shooting a red light at high speed, he must have known, half drunk or not, what could have happened. He was certainly not to drunk to escape the scene. After reading the story, I’d like to throw away the key and stick him in a cell with a video on a permanent loop, showing what he did to that poor girl.