A grieving mother has told a judge she has been denied justice after a hit and run driver whose car killed her son walked free from court.
Beverley Taylor sobbed as she learned how her 19-year-old son Greg had been knocked off his motorcycle by a glancing blow from uninsured driver Niall Darvell's unsafe and uninsured car.
She shouted:"Do you call that justice, Mr Judge" and stormed out of the public gallery after Darvell was spared an immediate jail sentence at Exeter Crown Court.
Darvell was driving home from a pub when his unroadworthy Volkswagen clipped Greg Taylor's motorcycle as he overtook him on Kings Ash Road in Paignton in the early hours of August 4 this year.
Expert tests showed the wheel of Darvell's car probably clipped Greg's boot, causing him to lose control, ride up a bank, and crash back onto the road, causing fatal injuries.
The car's side mirror was broken, meaning Darvell may not have seen Greg as he overtook him on a stretch of road which narrows from two lanes to one.
A CCTV camera in a shop nearby captured the car going past and police were able to calculate its speed as between 39 and 52 mph in a 30 mph area.
Greg, who came from Buckfastleigh, was an apprentice at Dartington Hall who had just finished work and was on his way with two workmates to a friend's house to play computer games when he was killed.
Darvell, aged 38, of Trelissick Road, Exeter, admitted causing death by careless driving and while driving without insurance. He was jailed for six months, suspended for two years and ordered to do 200 hours unpaid community work.
Judge Simon Carr told him:"This is a truly tragic case. On the basis of everything I have read Greg Taylor was a quite exceptional young man, just 19 and with his whole life in front of him.
"The pain and suffering his death must have caused to those closest to him, most notably his mother, is almost unimaginable and the court has that very much in mind. She has my personal sympathy.
"Nothing the court can say or do is going to lessen the pain but its task, having regard to the tragic circumstances, is to look at what it was about this defendant's driving that caused the collision to occur and what level of blame to ascribe."
The judge said he accepted Darvell's remorse and agreed that everyone would like to be able to turn the clock back and said the sentencing exercise in such cases is one of the most difficult a Judge faces.
Mr Peter Coombe, prosecuting, said the accident happened as Greg was riding in convoy with friends James Friedrich and George Bessell after finishing a late shift.
The three riders had all been behind Darvell's car at lights at the junction of Kings Ash Road, Paignton, and as they pulled away Mr Friedrich overtook the car and Greg followed and was almost past it when he was hit and lost control.
He said Darvell had drunk two pints in Totnes after finishing work at the Cott Inn at Dartington and had no valid insurance on his car because he had not paid his monthly premiums.
The car itself was unroadworthy, with both front tyres being under inflated and defective, a light not working and the side mirror broken, thus affecting his view of the motorcycle as it passed.
He said Darvell saw the bike crash but drove on and police later found evidence he had cleaned scuff marks off his wheel and bumper.
Mr Paul Dentith, defending, said Darvell was so shocked by the accident he has not driven a car since. He said:"He regrets what happened and wishes he could turn the clock back. This will never leave him."
He said he now runs his won business and has taken on an apprentice who would lose his job if he went straight to jail.
