'Disgusting, selfish' man killed couple in crash weeks after being stopped by police for bad driving
A man who killed a couple after losing control of his car had been stopped three months earlier by Leicestershire Police because he was driving so badly, it was revealed today. Simarjeet Singh, 35, who has never passed his driving test, was illegally driving alone from Leicester to Uppingham to go to work when he drifted to the left, onto a grass verge, over-corrected to the right and swung into the oncoming traffic, hitting the Hyundai of Gail and Ian Gale, who had been coming in the opposite direction.
Singh, regarding what happened as an "accident", pleaded not guilty to two counts of causing death by careless driving, but was found guilty by a jury following a trial. During a sentencing hearing, at Leicester Crown Court today (Friday, January 17), the deceased couple's daughter, Emma Johnson, told the judge about the impact of the tragedy, which happened the day she had gone to hospital to give birth.
Medics made the decision not to tell Ms Johnson that her parents were dead due to the stress it could cause the baby. When she was sent home later without giving birth, she was told by her partner about the fatal crash. She was then required to identify her parents' bodies.
READ MORE: Woman had to identify parents' bodies hours after giving birth
However, police were concerned about how the stress of doing that could affect her unborn baby's health. In the end, she said, she had to "pressure" the medical staff at Leicester Royal Infirmary to induce her baby so that she could give birth before going to identify her parents.
Just hours after giving birth to her son, she had to leave him to go and complete the identification. She said: "This was not the way I wanted to give birth."
Ms Johnson said Singh's actions were "selfish and disgusting", with the long wait for the trial - after he pleaded not guilty - adding to her distress. She said: "If he'd pleaded guilty, I wouldn't have been forced to wait for justice - he has no regard for anyone but himself".
She added: "Imagine having to identify your mum's body hours after giving birth to the grandchild she will never get to meet." Ms Johnson said that the deaths "seemed so avoidable".
Prosecutor Jonathan Dunne revealed during today's hearing the previous stop by the police three months before the fatal crash, which happened on Friday, November 18, 2022, near Uppingham. Mr Dunne said the officers in the earlier incident had seen Singh driving badly in Leicester and were so concerned they pulled him over. They discovered he only had a provisional driving licence and he was given a fine.
During the trial, the jury had heard that Singh, 35, of Dishley Lane, Belgrave, Leicester, had no explanation for why he had lost control of his car.
Balraj Bhatia, representing Singh, told the sentencing hearing today that it had been a "momentary lapse of concentration". He told the judge that Singh was married with two daughters aged four and eight, and the judge was shown letters written by Singh's wife and his four-year-old daughter.
Mr Bhatia said that despite his client denying the driving offence, therefore forcing a trial to take place, he was remorseful for the consequences of what happened.
Jailing Singh for four years, and banning him from driving for four years, Judge Ebrahim Mooncey told him: "You should not have been driving that day at all. When you swerved to right it was clearly an unsafe manoeuvre.
"Just a few months earlier you had driven without a licence and were stopped by the police due to the manner of your driving and that's an aggravating factor. You're a man who never passed a driving test, a man that drove without a full licence, without an accompanying driver, without L-plates."
He told Singh that he would remain behind bars for a period of two years. He will not be able to drive for two years after his release from prison, and he will be required to take an extended driving test if and when he does want a licence.