Newmarket: Alexander Martin jailed for Bury St Edmunds crash

Sentencing Alexander Martin, Judge Emma Peters said he had "blatantly ignored the rules of the road" by using his phone at or about the time of the collision which resulted in the death of 65-year-old Stephen Lawrence from Risby.

Judge Peters said Martin, who was driving home from work, had "ploughed" into Mr Lawrence catapulting him through the air causing fatal injuries after sending a three-letter text saying: “Yup”.

She accepted there was no prolonged or persistent bad driving and no suggestion of him speeding or using alcohol or drugs.

Jailing him for five years, she said: “You did a terrible thing that day and you caused a terrible loss and now you must pay a terrible price.”

Martin caused the crash in Bury St Edmunds (Image: Suffolk police)

Martin, of Tulyar Walk, Newmarket, had denied causing Mr Lawrence's death by dangerous driving but was unanimously convicted by a jury at Ipswich Crown Court in June after a trial.

In addition to being jailed, Martin was banned from driving for five years and six months.

In a victim statement, Mr Lawrence’s widow, Mary, described the devastating impact her husband’s death had had on their family.

She said despite having two jobs she struggled to pay bills.

“I try to support my family as much as I can as well as being devastated at the death of my husband,” said Mrs Lawrence.

Mr Lawrence’s daughter Samantha Stone said her father had been looking forward to his retirement and described the last two years since his death as the hardest two years of his family’s lives.

She said Father’s Day and birthdays were particularly hard and he was missed by his granddaughter.

William Carter, prosecuting, said the jury had found that Martin had sent a text message which read “Yup” just before the fatal collision.

He said Martin had also been driving with a broken windscreen wiper on the driver’s side resulting in his windscreen being heavily smeared and dirty.

During Martin's trial, the court heard that he was driving his Nissan Qashqai home from work along Newmarket Road in Bury St Edmunds at about 6pm on April 12, 2021 when he hit the back of a cycle ridden by Mr Lawrence.

Mr Lawrence, who was wearing a hi-vis jacket and a red baseball cap, was catapaulted into the air and hit the windscreen of the Qashqai before landing in the road behind the vehicle.

He suffered serious injuries and was declared dead at the scene.

Mr Carter claimed that, shortly before the fatal collision, Martin had stopped at a Shell garage and could be seen looking down doing something as he left.

An examination of his phone showed he sent a WhatsApp message 34 seconds at most before the 999 call following the collision.

Giving evidence Martin, who has no previous convictions and was working for a window installation company in Bury St Edmunds, said he didn’t agree with records which appeared to show he had sent a WhatsApp message a few seconds before he struck Mr Lawrence's bike.

Cross-examined by Mr Carter, Martin said he didn’t believe the time that records showed he had sent the message was the time at which he had composed it and pressed send.

He also told the jury that he hadn’t seen Mr Lawrence before he collided with him as he had been “completely blinded” by the glare from the sun.

Jude Durr, for Martin, said his client felt “real regret and genuine remorse” for what happened and had barely had a night’s sleep since the crash.

“It is the last thing he thinks of before he goes to sleep and the first thing he thinks about when he wakes up,” said Mr Durr.

Sergeant Mark Bassett, of the Serious Collision Investigation Unit at Suffolk police, said after Martin was jailed: “This was a tragic and completely avoidable collision, which has resulted in a loving family having a husband, father and grandfather torn away from them.

“The phone data analysis proved that Alexander Martin sent a message just prior to or at the time of the collision and we are in no doubt that the distraction caused by his phone – combined with the dirty windscreen – are the reasons why he failed to see Mr Lawrence.

“Martin has failed to show any true remorse for his actions and the devastating impact they have caused and I hope that his conviction and today’s sentence brings some comfort to Mr Lawrence’s family.

“We regularly run campaigns regarding the risks of driving and using a mobile phone because it is extremely dangerous and results in numerous collisions, some of which – as in this case – have fatal consequences.”