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Coach driver jailed for killing cyclist in crash

Barry Northcott was convicted of causing the death by careless driving of Karla Roman in east London last year.

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Barry Northcott court case

A coach driver who killed a cyclist when he turned into her path has been jailed for 15 months.

Barry Northcott, 40, caused fatal and “catastrophic injuries” to Karla Roman when he turned left into the 32-year-old in Whitechapel, east London, after failing to spot her in his mirrors, Woolwich Crown Court previously heard.

Ms Roman, who was just a few minutes from home, died of her injuries in hospital after being dragged under the wheels of the coach on February 6 last year.

Northcott was convicted of causing death by careless driving last month and was sentenced on Friday, Scotland Yard said.

He was also banned from driving for five years and seven months and must re-take his driving test, the force added.

Prosecutor Harpreet Sandhu had told the trial Ms Roman had been ahead of Northcott and within view for some 16 seconds before the crash.

Northcott made the “deliberate decision” to pull into the cycle stop box at traffic lights and there was “no reason” he should not have seen the Brazilian national, Mr Sandhu said.

Detective Constable Sam Searle, from Scotland Yard’s Roads and Transport Policing Command, said: “This was a tragic incident where a much-loved local cyclist had her life taken from her just a few minutes away from her home.

“Northcott’s reckless driving cost the life of an innocent woman and changed her family’s life forever.

“It’s only right that he has been handed a custodial sentence and will spend time in prison for his actions that day.”

Jurors heard Northcott, of Bromley, south-east London, told police he regularly disregarded the rules about the cycle stop box to “stop himself being swamped by cyclists”.

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