A deceased man's brother called for mercy in court for the pensioner who caused the death

A pensioner who caused the death of an award-winning film-maker on a Powys road has avoided prison, after the deceased man’s brother called for mercy and said he was 100 per cent forgiven.

Clifford Dunn admitted causing the death of Paul Bush by careless driving on the A44 at Llandegley on August 17 2023, during a previous appearance at Llandrindod Wells Magistrates Court. 

The 73 year-old veteran of Saxon Close, Gloucester was pulling into a layby in his Mazda Bongo – a type of motorhome - to telephone his wife to say he was coming home early from a camping trip, when the collision happened.

Mr Bush, who was 67 at the time, was travelling on his BMW motorbike in the opposite direction and his bike hit the passenger side of Dunn’s car. 

Witness Stephen Hardwick saw his body coming over the vehicle in front of him before falling into his path. Tragically his vehicle, a pick-up truck passed over Mr Bush’s body.

Mr Bush was still breathing at the time although he was mostly unconscious. He later died at the scene, despite what the court was told were ‘a number of acts of commendable bravery and civic duty’.

Andrew Bush said his brother was incredibly creative, a filmmaker, who had won prizes around the world and he was a great teacher.

He said the gap his death has left in the family’s lives will never be filled. He said Paul hugely enjoyed family parties and the brothers loved walking together. 

He said the family had 100 per cent forgiven Dunn and none of them bear any bitterness or anger.

“Your life is not defined by what happened,” he told Dunn and he said the family hope he will find peace in his life. 

He asked the court for mercy to be shown and said ‘none of us want to go to prison’.

Mr Bush added; “I was planning for more walks together waiting for your arrival at Caebach, you never came. Goodbye Paul, how lucky was I to have had you as a brother for almost seven decades. Peace little brother, peace my love.”

He said they had so many plans for retirement that will never be fulfilled, that he has flashbacks of the call about his death and identifying his body and he thanked the witness at the scene who stayed with his brother and PC Hannah Richards for her help.

Prosecuting, Mr Tom Scapens said Alistair Burn, a soldier with medical training ran onto the scene and attended to Mr Bush, asked others to check there was no pillion passenger and spoke to everyone present and comforted them. 

Mr Hardwick and Hannah Wilk called 999 and members of the public wanted to lift the pick-up truck off Mr Bush, but were advised not to. They were also considering moving Mr Bush because his breathing was changing as the ambulance arrived.

Representing Dunn, Mr Stephen Young said Dunn is a married man with an older daughter who served in the RAF for 24 years as a personnel administrator all over the world and is still employed for the MOD, making and engraving medals for current and past soldiers – to give something back to the service.

He has a clean driving licence and previous good character.

He had been on a camping trip in the Powys area and decided to leave early after being told the weather was going to deteriorate. He had not told his wife he was returning home early and was pulling into the layby to make that call, when the collision occurred.

Mr Young said Dunn has thought about the incident every day since and it has had a significant impact on him. 

“He has shown genuine remorse and he asks me to pass on his sympathy to Mr Bush’s family,” he said.

Judge Jeremy Jenkins sentencing Dunn at Merthyr Tydfil Crown Court on Tuesday, said neither Dunn or Mr Bush were speeding, there were no defects with either vehicle, and neither man was under the influence of alcohol or any substances.

He said ‘there was a momentary lapse’ and a ‘catastrophic error of judgement’ when Dunn went to pull into the layby and misjudged the speed of Mr Bush’s vehicle and his ability to cross the carriageway.

Judge Jenkins said the only way to view the incident was as an ‘absolute tragedy’. He paid tribute to the magnanimous and sensitive statement read out by Andrew Bush and said his words summed up the tragedy perfectly.

He said he believed the offence had crossed the custody threshold but he would not send Dunn to prison.

He sentenced him to 24 weeks in prison suspended for 12 months. Dunn will have to complete 100 hours of unpaid work and he was banned from driving for two years but will not have to face an extended re-test. He will also have to pay £150 court costs.