Extract from Daily Telegraph (UK) 4 July 2002
Message from Bernard Kellas.
Extract from Daily Telegraph (UK) 4 July 2002 follows:
Protests as death crash diabetic is cleared
By Stewart Payne
(Filed: 04/07/2002)
A diabetic who claimed his condition made him blameless for a crash
in which his high performance car veered out of control at more than
100mph, killing an oncoming motorist, was cleared by a jury yesterday.
The family of the man who died reacted angrily as Richard Turpin, 31,
was found not guilty of causing death by dangerous driving. No lesser
charge had been put.
Police supported the dead man’s widow in calling for mandatory blood
sugar tests for diabetics, every time they drive.
Turpin, a software product manager, said that he was in a
hypoglycemic trance, brought on by his condition, and remembered
nothing about his journey home from work.
He was many miles off his normal route and witnesses spoke of his
driving his Audi A3 as if he was on a “suicide mission”.
After several near misses, his car veered on to the wrong side of the
road near Maidenhead, Berkshire, and struck a people carrier being
driven by Phillip Taylor, a 33-year-old father of one. Mr Taylor, who
was taking an injured bird to the vets, was killed instantly.
During his trial, Turpin, from Barton-le-Clay, Bedfordshire, admitted
that he was driving dangerously but said he could not be held
responsible for his actions.
Reading Crown Court, Berks, was told that Turpin, a diabetic since
the age of 14, had to inject himself with insulin twice a day.
Diabetics are recommended to test their blood sugar level before
driving, but Turpin admitted he never did so.
Paul Reid, prosecuting, said that he was “reckless” in starting off
on the car journey and had sufficient knowledge of his condition to
know when it was safe to drive.
Turpin was in a state of automatism, a loss of voluntary control
brought on by his diabetic hypoglycemia, and the jury accepted his
assertion that in that state he could not be criminally responsible
for his actions.
Turpin, who wept as the verdict was given left court with his family
and fiance without making any comment. The practice of taking a
pinprick of blood and placing it into a machine to read blood sugar
levels is standard advice given by Diabetes UK, a national charity,
but is not a legal requirement.
Jo Taylor, 30, the widow of Mr Taylor, a building services engineer,
said: “I still can’t believe my husband is dead and my daughter will
never know her father just because of a simple blood test not being
carried out or not eating a 30p bar of chocolate before getting in
the car.”
She said diabetics must take responsibility, not only for themselves,
but for their passengers and other road users.
“I have lost everything”, said Mrs Taylor, “but he [Turpin] is not
even banned from the roads.
“What is preventing him or any other diabetic sufferer going out in
their car today and killing someone else?”
The policeman who investigated the accident, Pc Paul Marsden,
speaking with the authority of senior officers, said: “It would
appear that maybe we need to introduce mandatory self-testing prior
to getting behind the wheel of a car on every occasion for all
insulin-dependent diabetics.
“I will be looking into the matter with the DVLA to see if Mr
Turpin’s licence can be revoked until such time that he can provide
evidence that he is in full control of his diabetes.”