An impatient businessman has been jailed after hitting two workmen with his Mercedes convertible, decades after serving time for killing another pedestrian.
Richard Pierce, 54, was travelling on the B5105 from Ruthin towards Clawddnewydd in North Wales in July last year when he got stuck in a queue of traffic. The road was being resurfaced, and two men stood holding stop-go signs to control passing cars.
After waiting for less than a minute, Pierce “took the view that he could drive through the roadworks” and pulled out from the stationary traffic, showing a “disregard” for the rules of the road, a judge said.
Mold Crown Court heard Pierce was previously jailed in 1995 for killing a pedestrian in a road crash and had “clearly not learned his lesson.
Prosecutor Karl Scholz told Mold Crown Court that the front of Pierce’s Mercedes convertible struck workman Ieuan Jones, “causing him to be spun around and thrown to the ground” on July 20 last year. Jones suffered minor injuries and was taken to the hospital by ambulance.
The shameless defendant then continued along the road, causing a second workman, John Madoc Jones, to step forward and indicate that the luxury car should stop. The prosecutor said: “Mr. Madoc Jones formed the opinion that the driver had no intention of stopping, and he was right.” Mr. Madoc Jones was hit by the vehicle’s wing mirror and was also “spun round” by the impact.
Police later arrived at Pierce’s home in Bretton Road, Flintshire. During questioning, the businessman claimed both workmen “punched and kicked” his convertible. He said he thought they would be “antagonistic” towards him and “might try to kill him.”
When Pierce was arrested, he told police he drove out of the traffic queue because he “did not think much was happening” with the resurfacing works. Pierce admitted to dangerous driving.
The court heard that Pierce had previously been convicted of death by dangerous driving in 1995 and was sent to prison and disqualified from driving as a result.
Defending Pierce was Alan Williams, who said his client’s 1995 conviction was “almost a lifetime away.” Speaking of last year’s incident, the defence lawyer admitted it had been “a poor piece of driving.” He said Pierce was going through a “stressful time” with his business and had “genuine victim empathy.
Williams argued it would be “catastrophic” for the defendant to be sent to prison as his mother, 84, is in a care home. He would also be leaving behind his wife, two children, and his business, said the defense counsel. Mr. Williams added that the defendant, to “his credit,” had looked into whether he had ADHD.
But Judge Nicola Saffman sentenced Pierce to 14 months in jail for dangerous driving. She also disqualified him from driving for two years and seven months, enforcing that he must pass an extended retest after the ban is up.
Addressing Pierce, she said: “It’s clear that you have not learned your lesson from your causing death by dangerous driving offence… These were two vulnerable pedestrians working in the road. With your history, you should have known that your driving could have resulted in the serious injury or death of these men.
