Eight-Times Banned Driver Caged For Hit-And-Run Death Crash

An uninsured banned driver - serving his eighth disqualification - was "driving like an idiot" when he crashed into an oncoming car while speeding on the wrong side of the road - killing the lone female occupant.

Steven Palmer, 28, (pic.bottom) who has an "appalling" driving record lost control on a bend while exceeding 60-66 mph in a 50mph zone and crashed into a black Audi TT driven by 38 year-old Louise Clark.

"You left that scene immediately after," Judge John Dennis told Palmer yesterday at Isleworth Crown Court, jailing him for five-and-half years. "There was no attempt to go to Miss Clark with succour or call the emergency services and your driving record is appalling"

Palmer has a previous dangerous driving conviction when his vehicle crashed through the front of a house and ended up in an OAP lady's living-room during a police chase, plus convictions for aggravated vehicle taking; drink driving and driving while disqualified and without a licence and insurance.

"This case concerns the tragic and unnecessary death of Louise Clark, a young woman of thirty-eight," Judge Denniss told Palmer. "You have heard about the devastating effect your driving had on that family.

"She was a gregarious young woman……deeply loved by those that knew her."

Palmer had borrowed a pal's blue Honda Civic hire car and was seen tailgating another vehicle and overtaking it at speed moments before he crashed into Miss Clark (pic.top) at 6.30pm in Harvil Road, Uxbridge on December 30, last year.

The collision left her trapped inside her vehicle with shattered legs and multiple injuries, including a serious brain injury, and she was cut from the wreckage by the fire brigade and rushed by air ambulance to St. Mary's Hospital, Paddington, but her life support machine was switched off on January 8 after suffering numerous strokes.

Prosecutor Mr. Paul Cavin said witness James Baker was following the speeding Palmer along the unlit semi-rural road, which has several dips and humps, and told police: "It overtook as it crested one of the humps and was either all or almost all on the wrong side of the road.

"It continued driving fast and continued out of sight. I thought he was driving like an idiot."

Moments later he arrived at the crash scene, but Palmer had fled and after initially refusing to surrender to police, who had his DNA from blood on the driver-side door, have gave himself up the day Miss Clark died.

"He must have been travelling well in excess of the speed limit, despite warning signs, plus a warning side of a double bend and 'slow' written on the tarmac," explained Mr. Cavin.

Globe-trotter Miss Clark, of Ickenham, had visited 50 countries, worked at a Harefield bar and had two younger brothers.

In a victim impact statement read to the packed courtroom, full of relatives for the victim and the defendant, her mother Beryl said: "Losing a daughter in such a callous and devastating way has taken away her life and our lives.

"Louise was a very family-orientated daughter, who loved life and loved her family…..Everyday is unbearable, but you carry on. You have to.

"We will never see her married or see her children or the grandchildren she would have given us.

"I saw Harvil Road blocked off by the police and as soon as we saw the police at our front door we knew something tragic had happened."

Beryl described the "nine agonising days" her daughter clung to life. "Every day the doctors gave us a glimmer of hope and then took it away.

"A future without her scares me. We are left with a deep ache of emptiness without her…that will for ever break our hearts."

Palmer's lawyer Mr. Selwyn Shapiro said: "The defendant didn't intend to cause death or serious injury. This was a catastrophic misjudgment case."

Judge Denniss told Palmer: "Mercifully she was unconscious and was so immediately after the collision. The impact was avoidable and was caused by your dangerous driving.

"You have never had a driving licence and have committed offences after offences of driving dangerously or disqualified and have been sent to prison for it."

He also disqualified Palmer for six years and ordered him to pass an extended driving test before he is ever granted a licence.

Palmer pleaded guilty to causing death by dangerous driving and causing death while disqualified and uninsured.

The maximum sentence is fourteen years imprisonment.

Afterwards, Louise's family released this statement: “Louise was a loving daughter, a sister who was a joy to be with, a caring aunt, a supportive grand-daughter and cousin who was a very best friend.

“Her death is an unimaginable torment and a raw pain every morning when we wake and every night when we try to sleep.

“We would like to praise the police for their unstinting support to us during this time.

“They have been all you could wish for – in particular Bruce Wilson and Stephen Pidgeon of the Northolt Collision Investigation Unit.

“We struggle to come to terms with why Louise should have been deprived of her life and future while Steven Palmer has his.

“We cannot understand the justice of our family suffering the death of Louise when Steven Palmer is still alive and his family still have him.

“What we and her many, many friends are enduring is made worse by how she died needlessly at the hands of Steven Palmer, who despite his protestations of remorse, is and will remain a danger to the public by his driving.

“He has an appalling record and far from learning from his court appearances and imprisonment, has progressed to what was almost inevitable – killing an innocent young woman.

“His present protestations of remorse are the result of being caught and an attempt to receive a lesser sentence.

“A man with an ounce of compassion for his actions would not have fled the crash to save his skin, leaving Louise barely alive in her wrecked car.

“A man with a conscience would not seek to hide from the police for nine days while Louise was fighting for her life in hospital with her grieving family at her bedside.

“A man taking responsibility for his actions would not wait to surrender to the police only when he knew arrest was imminent.

“A man with any sense of contrition would not say “no comment” during interviews about her death.

“For the better running of the courts, the law requires Steven Palmer be given a lesser sentence for pleading guilty and saving court time.

“His plea of guilty should be seen in this light and not as evidence of genuine remorse for his actions. He would have been convicted on the evidence.

“We stand here today in grief but who will be standing here the next time Steven Palmer gets behind the wheel of a car and causes another death or injury.

“Will it be yet another family mourning the death of their innocent relative or will it be Steven Palmer’s own family lamenting his death.

“The answer lies in Steven Palmer’s hands, but on his record, the prospects are bleak.”

Detective Sergeant Stephen Pidgeon from the Northolt Collision Investigation Unit said: “Steven Palmer has received a significant sentence today for killing Louise Clark.

“Whilst the Judge has acknowledged his guilty plea this has at least saved Louise’s family and friends the further suffering that the wait for a trial would bring and was no doubt provoked by the strength of the case against him.

“It cannot be ignored that on the 30 December 2012 having caused Louise injuries that would eventually result in her death Palmer left her at the roadside and only surrendered to police as the result of media appeals, arrests of his associates and a number of warrants executed at addresses linked to him.

“It was clear to him that he had no other realistic options but to give himself up.

“I would like to thank Louise’s parents for the trust and support they have shown in my team and whilst I accept that the sentence today can in no way be considered justice for Louise and her family it does send out a warning to others who drive on the road with a complete disregard for the law and the safety of other road users.”