Phone-using driver jailed over death of elderly couple
Police say driver showed 'very little remorse' over collision at Barrowden
A driver who caused a head-on collision, killing an elderly couple, has been jailed.
On 9 May 2022, Patricia Pringle was behind the wheel of her blue Volkswagen Golf on the A47 at Barrowden when it crossed onto the opposite side of the road and collided with a silver Fiat Qubo.
A call was made to emergency services shortly before 4pm but when police and ambulance crews arrived the occupants of the Qubo – 89-year-old Clive Jones and his wife Elaine, 82 – were pronounced dead at the scene.
The driver of the Golf – 56-year-old Patricia Pringle – was taken to hospital to be treated for a broken arm. An investigation, led by detectives from the force’s Serious Collision Investigation Unit (SCIU), began and several eyewitnesses were spoken to.
One motorist, who had been following Pringle’s car, said he stopped at the scene. He told officers Pringle had implied she was holding her mobile phone at the point the collision occurred. It was later identified that Pringle had been in a phone call at the time the incident occurred.
On 13 May this year Pringle, of Park Vale Road, Spinney Hill, pleaded guilty to two counts of causing death by dangerous driving and one count of possession of a controlled drug of class B – cannabis.
Today, she was sentenced to nine years’ imprisonment. Pringle was also banned from driving for five years which will begin on her release from prison and she will have to take an extended retest.
Detective Constable Emma Mitchell, from the SCIU, was the officer in the case. She said: “Throughout the investigation, Pringle appeared to show very little remorse for her actions. However, I’m pleased she faced up to what she’d done.
“While no sentence is going to bring Clive and Elaine back, I hope today’s outcome allows their loved ones to feel that justice has been done and provides a degree of closure to them.
“There’s a reason why using a mobile phone while driving can result in points on your licence. I would like to think this case serves as a stark warning to road users who think it’s acceptable to do so that their actions can have fatal consequences.”
Following today’s sentencing, the family of Clive and Elaine Jones have released the following statement:
“Our parents were extraordinary people. Every day was lived to full capacity. They both had such wide and varied interests and belonged to, and led, a variety of different groups and societies. They also warmly welcomed all to their home.
“They were loved by their family and were very well known within the community of Uppingham. They had many friends from all walks of life.
“They met and married in Malaya in the 1960s. They returned to the UK briefly for dad to finish his PhD in geology and to start a family. We were posted first to Iran and then, in the early 1970s, moved to Africa. Here dad became the director of the Geological Survey and mum discovered an enduring passion for archaeology, completing a degree in the subject on our return to the UK in the late 1980s. Mum then dedicated herself to the archaeology of Rutland and her extensive findings have since been catalogued for Oakham Museum.
“Dad’s incredible knowledge of the geology of Malaya, Iran, and Botswana were rewarded not only by the Malayan government with an Order of the Defender of the Realm (Ahli Mangku Negara or AMN) but also by the British government with an OBE. His work is still in use to this day.
“The shock, horror, and disbelief of their deaths remains with so many people – their family, friends and their community.
“The police have worked for over two years for justice to be served on the totally avoidable killing of our parents.
“As a family, we will never not know how they died, the extent of their injuries, and the trauma of being informed of their deaths and the days, months and years that followed.
“Their remaining years were stolen from them and from us. We never had the chance to say goodbye. We miss them each day and in so many ways.
“That they died together is a blessing as they did everything together in life.”