Widow backs Express & Star campaign to stop speeding drivers
The grieving widow of a cyclist killed by an uninsured, speeding motorist has backed an Express & Star campaign for tougher sentences for killer drivers.
Cynthia Searle is the latest person to sign the petition which will be sent to Prime Minister Theresa May.
Her husband 74-year-old George was knocked down by Kile Daniel Straker in Stafford Road in Wolverhampton.
Straker, who was driving at speeds of around 60mph on the 40mph road, sped off from the scene.
The 28-year-old, of Armstrong Drive, Dunstall Park, Wolverhampton, was jailed for eight-and-a-half years in 2014.
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An appeal challenging the sentence by Straker was thrown out a year later by Mr Justice Mitting, who said 'he showed a flagrant disregard for the rules of the road'.
Mrs Searle, aged 73, of The Straits in Dudley, said: "I get upset when I read about other deaths because I know what the families will have to go through."
She added: "I think the people who do this should be made to see what damage they cause the family.
"I still can't understand why he did not stop at the scene.
"He will be out of prison shortly, yet I'm still without my husband, who was a young 74-year-old who kept busy and was fit."
Sign the Express & Star's petition for stronger sentences for killer drivers here
Mr Searle was a printer who in retirement was a keen cyclist. On the day he was hit by Straker he had been on a 50-mile cycle.
Mrs Searle said: "My son saw the crash on the news and it later became clear it was my husband who had been hit."
The couple met and married in West Bromwich. They have two children.
Mrs Searle said: "It still is very hard, I miss him deeply.
"I think sometimes I feel better but then times like this you remember and I miss him."
The Express & Star campaign comes as the Department for Justice wants to increase the maximum sentence for dangerous drivers who have killed from 14 years to life in prison.
Walsall North MP Eddie Hughes has backed the move, and will raise the issue in the House of Commons on February 28.
