A barrister has been jailed after he sped over the brow of a hill and crashed head-on into a car driven by an 84 year old man, who later died.
Hamish Hickey, 40, was speeding in a Volvo XC40 when he struck Michael Lupton’s car on a narrow country road near Ampleforth at about 5.30pm on 26 July, 2022.
Mr Lupton, who lived in the village, suffered a catalogue of devastating injuries including a bleed on the brain, broken ribs, bleeding in his lung and “very significant” fractures to his hip, thighbone, kneecap, ankle and lower leg, as well as a pelvic injury.
He was airlifted to James Cook Hospital in Middlesbrough but died on 14 August, 2022, about three weeks after the accident.
Mr Hickey, who specialises in family law and financial-remedy proceedings and belongs to the North Eastern Circuit, appeared at York Crown Court for sentence today when he pleaded guilty to causing death by dangerous driving.
Prosecutor Michael Smith said that Mr Hickey, who also lived in Ampleforth, had received points on his licence in the past for speeding and he had also been on a motorway-speeding course.
He had his two young children in the back of the car when he caused the fatal crash.
Mr Hickey, who specialises in family law and financial-remedy proceedings and belongs to the North Eastern Circuit, appeared at York Crown Court for sentence today (Friday) when he pleaded guilty to causing death by dangerous driving.
Prosecutor Michael Smith said that Mr Hickey, who also lived in Ampleforth, had received points on his licence in the past for speeding and he had also been on a motorway-speeding course.
It’s believed that Mr Lupton was driving out to a local beauty spot “to enjoy the views” as was his wont.
He was driving out of Ampleforth in Thorpe Lane, which connects the village to York, as Mr Hickey was driving home in the opposite direction.
Mr Hickey, who was returning from York, was driving at up to 66mph on the the 60mph speed limit road. He was in the middle of the road when he approached a blind summit.
Mr Smith said the speed at which Mr Hickey was driving would have made it impossible to avoid a collision with Mr Lupton’s car.
Mr Hickey, who was uninjured, remained at the scene and was visibly “upset”. Witnesses described him as “looking lost and pale and… in shock”.
Changed statement
He was quizzed by police in January 2023 when he initially denied the offence, submitting a prepared statement in which he claimed he had been “driving appropriately” and that he “didn’t see any car on the approach to the brow of the hill”.
He claimed that as he drove over the blind crest he was positioned on his side of the road, “far over to the left”, but he had “no time to react” because Mr Lupton’s vehicle was in the middle of the road, “almost in front of my vehicle when I came upon it”.
However, he was brought back in for questioning in October last year when he gave police another prepared statement saying his previous account of events was “an honestly held belief” but that he “now accepted his recollection was wrong, and that his perception (of what happened) was in some way distorted by the shock of the collision”.
He accepted his driving was dangerous and that it was he who was in the middle of the road, not Mr Lupton’s vehicle, but “could not begin to explain” why he had driven in such a manner.
In a victim statement read out by the prosecution, Mr Lupton’s nephew Trevor Jackson described his uncle as a “real social butterfly, dropping in on friends in the village” and making weekly trips to Easingwold to visit his only surviving sister, Margaret, who had dementia.
He said Mr Lupton enjoyed “going for a drive locally to enjoy the views” and had been in good health before the accident.
He described the trauma of seeing his uncle in the intensive-care unit “with the most dreadful injuries”.
“He was unrecognisable,” said Mr Jackson.
‘Gross error’
Defence barrister Hunter Gray conceded that Mr Hickey, a married father-of-two, had been driving at “significantly excessive” speeds for that type of road and his “gross error of judgement” had resulted in “catastrophic consequences”.
“He struggles to understand how he could have been driving in that manner,” added Mr Gray.
“He is a fundamentally good man, a hard-working individual who has overcome some difficulties in childhood to succeed exceedingly well in his profession.
“He’s a good husband, a doting father and his motivation through his work is to help others. These past two years have been extremely difficult for him. He feels like he has been leading a double life.
“He’s carried on working but it’s almost a façade because he doesn’t want to appear vulnerable in front of his clients. He has seen individuals going to crown court and wondering whether that’s going to be him.”
He said that Mr Hickey was “so horrified by what he had done” that he had since been on a course to improve his driving and had made monthly donations to the Yorkshire Air Ambulance which airlifted Mr Lupton to hospital.
He said that Mr Hickey had since been receiving psychological help after suffering from anxiety and “at one point broke down completely”.
Judge Sean Morris, the Recorder of York, said: “Michael Lupton was a much-loved uncle, neighbour and friend. He was a social and cheerful man who was well known in the small community of Ampleforth.”
He told Mr Hickey: “You need to know that driving at speed is dangerous because you have been told before about your speed.
“You have been down that road before. You have been dealt with in the past for speeding, just by way of speeding points but you had also been on a speed-awareness course… in 2019.
“Mr Lupton was hospitalised and it took him some days to die and those who loved him and went to see him were traumatised by what they saw, but I suspect he just gave up the ghost”.
He added: “Approaching that rise, your position should have been like Mr Lupton’s, right up against the edge.
“This is a tragic case for everybody because Mr Lupton was in the twilight of his life and should have been allowed to see out the years that he had left in dignity and in the village that he loved.”
He told Mr Hickey: “You are a man of impeccable character and that’s what makes these cases the hardest cases any judge has to deal with.
“You have shown utter remorse but I cannot get away from the fact that you have a bad driving record and I’m afraid, because of that, an immediate prison sentence has to follow.
“I’m afraid when somebody has been ticked off in the past for speeding and then drives at inappropriate speeds and takes a life… it becomes too serious to suspend the jail sentence. I disregard completely your profession – if anything, it could make it worse for you.”
Mr Morris said that due to Mr Hickey’s early guilty plea, the delay in the case reaching court and the serious impact a prison term would have on his wife and family, he would keep the jail sentence to a minimum.
Mr Hickey, of St Hilda’s Walk, Ampleforth, was jailed for 23 months and banned from driving for two years.