Chris’s killer gets 2.5 years

Danny Pattinson: showing off

1 More Image(s) In Gallery

We are left with a life sentence — victim’s mother
A TEENAGE driver who mowed down and killed a talented Blue Coat School pupil while “showing off’’ to two girls wept as he was jailed for two and a half years yesterday.

Mechanic Danny Pattinson (17) had music blaring, and was driving with one hand on the wheel, after taking his mother’s high-powered Mini Cooper S for a spin.

He offered a lift to the two 16-year-olds who screamed in terror as he roared around the streets.

Christopher’s mother, Andrea Dale, said outside Minshull Street Crown Court Court: “He was driving badly out of sheer bravado and it cost my Chris his life.

“He was just showing off and now he has ruined all our lives.

“No jail sentence will bring back Chris, but that young man will still have everything to look forward to when he gets out.

“All we have is a life sentence.

“We just miss Chris so much. He was such a wonderful person.”

Pattinson, of Trows Lane, Rochdale, was sentenced days after the premiere of a hard-hitting play that Christopher’s sister, Becca, helped to devise.

“The Split Second” is aimed at young drivers in a bid to cut reckless driving and save lives.

Pattinson, who worked for his father’s vehicle recovery company, ploughed into Christopher as he was crossing Lees Road, Salem, with pals in June last year.

Christopher, of Bramble Avenue, Moorside was flung into the windscreen and catapulted on to the opposite side of the road.

Another pedestrian had already jumped out of the way of the speeding car. Pattinson, who had passed his driving test six months earlier, was convicted of causing death by careless driving and banned from driving for four years. He was cleared of the more serious offence of causing death by dangerous driving

The maximum jail sentence he could have faced was five years.

Judge Jeffrey Lewis told him: ‘’You were driving to impress these girls and took no precautions to avoid a collision. You neither braked nor took your foot off the accelerator. A competent and careful driver surely would’ve done so.

“Your motive was to impress and you remain cavalier in your demeanour. The weight of the offence you will carry for the rest of your life.’’

Christopher had been expected to achieve As and A*s in his GCSEs this year.

Sgt Alan Johnson, from the Road Policing Unit, said:

“Christopher, who was a young boy with his whole life ahead of him, was the unfortunate victim of Pattinson’s immature and reckless behaviour. One life has been lost, but many lives have been ruined by the devastating effects his death has had.

“Pattinson will have to live with what he has done on his conscience for the rest of his life.”