Death crash speeding pensioner jailed - The Leamington Observer

Death crash speeding pensioner jailed

Leamington Editorial 4th Jun, 2016 Updated: 28th Oct, 2016   0

AFTER realising he had forgotten his wallet, a Claverdon pensioner sped back home for it – killing another driver as he ploughed into his car at up to 80mph on the wrong side of the road.

And at Warwick Crown Court 78 year-old Hans Wegerdt pleaded guilty to causing the death of 36-year-old Mark Smith by dangerous driving on the A4189 between Henley and Claverdon.

Wegerdt, of St Michael’s Road, Claverdon, was jailed for two-and-a-half years and banned from driving for five years from the date of his release.

Prosecutor Jane Sarginson said at around 7pm on October 19 last year Anna Gadie was driving her Mazda car along the unlit A4189 towards Henley, within the 50mph limit.




Travelling towards the Crab Mill pub, through the window of the car in front of her, Mr Smith’s Volvo S40, she could see headlights coming towards them on the wrong side of the road.

She hit her brakes and, before coming to a halt, went through a shower of debris thrown up by the impact between Wegerdt’s oncoming Mercedes C220 Estate and Mr Smith’s Volvo.


As the debris struck her car she thought for a moment she had been involved in the crash herself, but continued through it before coming to a halt.

Ms Gadie could see one car, the Volvo, across the middle of the road and another at the side of the road, so got out and, upset and quite overwrought, began to call the emergency services.

As she did so Emma Lewis was driving towards the scene, and Ms Gadie desperately gestured for her to stop, but Miss Lewis did not notice her and, in the darkness, clipped the Volvo.

She stopped, and her father who was with her in her car took over the 999 call.

The police and paramedics arrived, but sadly Mr Smith died at the scene from multiple injuries, the most significant of which was a burst aorta, said Miss Sarginson.

Wegerdt, who was also badly injured, was taken to hospital where he was detained for several weeks.

Accident investigators established he had been driving in the direction of Claverdon on the wrong side of the road – and the speedometer on the Mercedes had frozen at around 80mph at the moment of impact.

As an indication of how far over he was, the ‘colossal force’ of the impact between the two cars was to the nearside front of each car, buckling the sub-frame of the Volvo and pushing its front nearside wheel back almost level with the driver’s door.

When he was later interviewed, Wegerdt said he had left his home in Claverdon to go to his club in Henley, but then realised he had forgotten his wallet, so turned round to go back for it – but could remember nothing after that.

Miss Sarginson added German national Wegerdt said he had only returned home from Germany, where he had spent many hours driving on the right, the day before the crash.

Amy Jacobs, defending, said Wegerdt was described by one friend who had written a reference as ‘a broken man’ because of what had happened.

“He wishes it was in his power to swap his own life for that of Mr Smith.  He feels greatly the burden of what he’s done.

“There is nothing this court can do by way of punishment which will bring back Mr Smith or atone for what happened.”

Miss Jacobs described Wegerdt as ‘a pillar of the community’ in Claverdon who had been involved with Rotary and an educational charity in South Africa.

       Following a short adjournment, Miss Sarginson said there was a statement from Andrew Smith, who described his brother as ‘an intelligent and brilliant young man’ who had his whole life ahead of him, but will now ‘for ever be just 36 years old.’

And he said the family’s lives had been left devastated by Mark’s death just six months after their father died from a terminal illness.

Jailing Wegerdt, Recorder Burrows told him: “This is a tragic case.  Nothing I can say or do can bring back Mark Smith, or undo the damage done, or take away the pain you caused.

“I am very conscious it is the families, particularly the family of Mark Smith, who bear the brunt of the pain. The sentence I pass is no reflection on the value of his life.

“For the rest of your life you will have to live with the guilty knowledge that you caused the death of a young man who was merely driving home from work, who had done nothing wrong and just happened to be in your path.

“I accept you were not deliberately driving on the wrong side of the road but, having just returned from abroad, it was all the more reason for you to take care and not be speeding.”

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