THE grieving family of a beloved 49-year-old father who was killed while cycling have warned about the devastating consequences of preventable deaths on the road.
Graham Pattison, a married father-of-two, was killed on the A689 between Sedgefield and Hartlepool in July 2020.
Paige Robinson and David Ferry were both jailed today after being convicted of causing death by dangerous driving.
Robinson, 24 of Geranium Close, Billingham, was handed a sentence of seven years and nine months while Ferry, 47, of Granville Terrace in Redcar, was jailed for eight years, due to the fact he failed to stop following the collision.
Read more: A689 road rage pair jailed after North East dad Graham Pattison killed
Victoria Pattison, Graham’s widow, attended Teesside Crown Court to read a victim impact statement describing his loss.
She said: “Graham was the love of my life and best friend for over 30 years. Words could never do justice to the amazing man he was.
“I could never convey the impact of his death on me, his two daughters, mum and dad, sister and the rest of the family.
“How do you begin to explain the utter devastation when on a perfect summer’s day, our world is destroyed in the blink of an eye.
“I have to reconcile being the luckiest person in the world to have married my soul mate when we were 18 and 19 with being the unluckiest to have that ripped away
"Graham loved me with his whole heart for almost 31 years. No one could have loved me more.
I now fear that every moment of joy in our family’s future will always come with an equal moment of sadness because Graham is not there - at graduations, birthdays. The stuff of normal family life that people take for granted
"I ask myself what Graham would want me to say if he were here.
"I don’t think he would be concerned with saying what a great dad or son he was.
"What he would consider important, is that far too many people are killed and injured on our roads every year that could be prevented, and so many more lives devastated than those statistics suggest.
"As a family, we are learning how to live without Graham.
"This type of loss doesn’t discriminate. It could happen to anyone. Please remember that whenever you get behind the wheel of your car."
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Mr Pattison suffered catastrophic injuries when Robinson hit him while driving at about 70mph as she tried to undertake Ferry's Audi TT on the dual carriageway.
She had been distracted by an ongoing road rage incident with Ferry.
They both denied a charge of causing death by dangerous driving, but were convicted after a trial, during which the prosecution said each defendant was equally to blame.
It started some miles before the collision when Robinson, distracted and singing to music, repeatedly accidentally cut in front of Ferry.
Annoyed, Ferry eventually got past her after the two drivers had tried to “get the better over the other”, the judge said.
Robinson was egged on by her boyfriend, who was not in the dock but should share some culpability for the tragedy, judge Jonathan Carroll added.
A short distance later, Robinson caught up and was determined to pass Ferry, tailgating him, while he brake-tested her.
She tried to undertake Ferry, who swerved towards her, moments before she crashed into Mr Pattison, causing catastrophic injuries.
Ferry drove home and later insisted he was unaware there had been a collision, a claim rejected by the judge.
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