Tributes paid to 'one in a million' Walsall crash victim Lee Marlow
A wife has spoken of her heartbreak after the driver who caused the death of her ‘one in a million’ husband was jailed.
Motorcyclist Lee Marlow, aged 34, was fatally injured in a crash with Miles Byrne.
He had gone to tell the family of his wife Rebecca that she had escaped injury following a smash she was in earlier that day.
Former soldier Byrne, 39, was jailed for three-and-a-half years and banned for driving for three years in the wake of the crash on September 17 last year, in Pelsall.
The delivery driver, of Medway, Tamworth, originally denied causing death by dangerous driving but changed his plea to guilty on the day he was due to stand trial.
Lee had three children, Elliott, 17, 13-year-old Lewis and Darcey, 10, with wife Rebecca.
She said: “We never thought this would happen to our perfect loving family.
“Ever since that night our lives have changed so much. Every day is a struggle.
“We go to bed still thinking he is going to come back from work and at meal times I still get the five plates out instead of four.
“We have been to counselling as a family but I am not only dealing with my own grief but the grief of our three children who miss their dad so much it’s untrue.” The couple, who married in Turkey in 2015, both worked at a nursing home.
Lee was a maintenance man and Rebecca, 40, a care assistant.
Wolverhampton Crown Court was told how Lee had been riding his motorbike in a safe manner at the junction of Norton Lane and Vicarage Road when Byrne turned right across his path.
They collided and Lee suffered catastrophic head and chest injuries. He was pronounced dead at the scene.
Rebecca described Lee as a ‘family man’ who loved going fishing with Elliott, and watching Lewis play football.
She added: “As a family we cannot put it into words the impact Lee’s death has had on us all.
“We used to enjoy family holidays and day trips out.
“The plans we had made for the future have just been snatched away from us.
“All the things that we took for granted are now just treasured memories of a man with a heart of gold.
“Lee was truly one in a million and would do anything for anyone.”
Lee’s family have family instructed serious injury lawyers at Irwin Mitchell to take up their case.
Rebecca Hearsey, from Irwin Mitchell, said: “Rebecca, Elliott, Lewis and Darcey have been left devastated by Miles Byrne’s reckless actions.
“While the outcome cannot begin to undo the damage Byrne has caused, we hope the sentence serves as a lesson to others of the tragic and far-reaching consequences of dangerous driving.”
She added that the team was now working to help Rebecca provide for her children’s future as they attempted to come to terms with the heartache they had experienced.”
The family thanked the Central Motorway Police Group for its work.
