Crash kills biker: driver fined £400

A BRIGHTON student whose careless driving led to the death of a biker has been fined £400 and had nine points placed on his licence.

Twenty-one-year-old Thomas Yerbury hit Kawasaki-rider Michael Brown, also aged 21, as he turned around after missing a turning on the way to his first day at work during the university vacation last summer.

Michael's mum, Deborah, said: "This tragedy has devastated many lives, not only Mike's.

There is no penalty that can be applied that could possibly equate to the pain and suffering we have experienced and which will continue for us for the rest of our lives. Mike is greatly missed."

Mr Brown, from Biggleswade, was on his way to his job as a civilian worker with the army when the car struck him.

Yerbury, who is studying at Brighton to become a chartered surveyor, had pulled the Nissan Almera he was driving into a layby on the A1198 in Ermine Street, Whaddon, but failed to check his mirror before starting the U-turn, Cambridge magistrates were told.

Yerbury, of Middle Street, Great Gransden, called 999, stayed with the stricken victim until help arrived and immediately admitted the accident was his fault, said Paul Brown, prosecuting.

In a heart-rending victim impact statement read out in court, Deborah Brown described the devastation the loss of her son had caused.

He was, she said, "an exceptional and gifted young man", who was due to marry his teenage sweetheart and who brought joy to her life.

"Our futures have been torn away," she said.

An earlier inquest into the fatality recorded a verdict of accidental death.