- News
- Reviews
- Bikes
- Accessories
- Accessories - misc
- Computer mounts
- Bags
- Bar ends
- Bike bags & cases
- Bottle cages
- Bottles
- Cameras
- Car racks
- Child seats
- Computers
- Glasses
- GPS units
- Helmets
- Lights - front
- Lights - rear
- Lights - sets
- Locks
- Mirrors
- Mudguards
- Racks
- Pumps & CO2 inflators
- Puncture kits
- Reflectives
- Smart watches
- Stands and racks
- Trailers
- Clothing
- Components
- Bar tape & grips
- Bottom brackets
- Brake & gear cables
- Brake & STI levers
- Brake pads & spares
- Brakes
- Cassettes & freewheels
- Chains
- Chainsets & chainrings
- Derailleurs - front
- Derailleurs - rear
- Forks
- Gear levers & shifters
- Groupsets
- Handlebars & extensions
- Headsets
- Hubs
- Inner tubes
- Pedals
- Quick releases & skewers
- Saddles
- Seatposts
- Stems
- Wheels
- Tyres
- Health, fitness and nutrition
- Tools and workshop
- Miscellaneous
- Tubeless valves
- Buyers Guides
- Features
- Forum
- Recommends
- Podcast
Justice (Lonpicman, Wikimedia Commons)Cyclist's family "gutted" at news his killer will serve less than half sentence
The family of a cyclist killed by a drunk driver have spoken of their shock at being told his killer would serve less than half his sentence.
Edward 'George' Orrey, 56 died on February 9, 2013 when he was hit by a car driven by Kingsley Gordon-Allen, 20 outside Leytonstone tube station. Mr Orrey, who was on his way home from working as a steel erection foreman on the “Cheesegrater” Leadenhall Building, was pronounced dead at the scene.
Gordon-Allen pleaded guilty to causing death by careless driving whilst unfit through alcohol. He was sentenced to eight years in prison and disqualified from driving for ten years.
An additional three years were added to his sentence for an attack on a 50-year-old man while he was out on bail.
But despite a total sentence of 11 years, Mr Orrey's family say they have been told that Gordon-Allen has been given a release date of January 2018.
Elaine Orrey, 54, told Zoie O'Brien, of Waltham Forest Guardian: “We had a new family liaison officer and she told me that he will be out in four years whether he behaves or not, and if we don’t object he will be out in three-and-a-half.
“He could start coming out on licence in 24 months.
“I’m absolutely gutted.
“We were led to believe that if he gets over ten years he will serve a minimum of two thirds of that time.
“They don’t give a damn about the people left behind, the victims. We have been through all this for nothing.
“In court the police took us outside to speak to us in the street because there was no space in the court. The date was moved the first time and then the judge tried to throw it out of court because he was taken to the wrong court and we had come down from Cornwall.
“My husband worked hard his entire life. He was doing a job to support his family.
“I have no faith in the so-called justice system. I had heard stories before but never in my life did I imagine we would be treated like this.”
Frankie Orrey, 34, has called for changes to the justice system.
She said: “It is like my dad meant nothing. If [Gordon-Allen] comes out of prison in 2018 he will still be young, he will have a life ahead of him and probably new qualifications.
“He will have served his time in a young offenders’ institute, not even a real prison. We have been treated like the criminals.
“Kingsley Gordon-Allen has never shown any remorse for what he did.”
John has been writing about bikes and cycling for over 30 years since discovering that people were mug enough to pay him for it rather than expecting him to do an honest day's work.
He was heavily involved in the mountain bike boom of the late 1980s as a racer, team manager and race promoter, and that led to writing for Mountain Biking UK magazine shortly after its inception. He got the gig by phoning up the editor and telling him the magazine was rubbish and he could do better. Rather than telling him to get lost, MBUK editor Tym Manley called John’s bluff and the rest is history.
Since then he has worked on MTB Pro magazine and was editor of Maximum Mountain Bike and Australian Mountain Bike magazines, before switching to the web in 2000 to work for CyclingNews.com. Along with road.cc founder Tony Farrelly, John was on the launch team for BikeRadar.com and subsequently became editor in chief of Future Publishing’s group of cycling magazines and websites, including Cycling Plus, MBUK, What Mountain Bike and Procycling.
John has also written for Cyclist magazine, edited the BikeMagic website and was founding editor of TotalWomensCycling.com before handing over to someone far more representative of the site's main audience.
He joined road.cc in 2013. He lives in Cambridge where the lack of hills is more than made up for by the headwinds.
Latest Comments
- espressodan 5 min 56 sec ago
Road.cc: "Cyclists are fed up of victim blaming"...
- Destroyer666 57 min 47 sec ago
Ahem, the recommended lockring is just a common through-axle specific lockring, so nothing Miche specific there, and the required tool for it is an...
- Destroyer666 1 hour 52 min ago
Nonono, not those, but those that have constructed Italian cars and motorcycles that have been driven to hundreds of race and championship...
- RoubaixCube 2 hours 1 min ago
This may well be the case although Im unaware of the brands popularity on their home turf. I used to see them being advertised more in the UK...
- qwerty360 2 hours 31 min ago
Arguably sticking it in a bank account is bad....
- Sredlums 3 hours 30 min ago
I'd counter that those brakes were in fact so inadequate that they eventually developed a whole new type of bicycle that was actually suited for it...
- levestane 3 hours 32 min ago
Unfortunately, Africa is heavily exploited both for resource extraction...
- CitizenSmith 3 hours 58 min ago
There seems to be no support for TOO) now - their email and website are defunct. They are inactive on Facebook. Aftter less than a year the rails...
- Laz 4 hours 56 min ago
I used to daily 1hr sufferfests on indoor rollers, I drank a fair bit of water before during, and after- I noticed my sweat wasnt stinging in my...
- matthewn5 5 hours 28 min ago
I did the four windows on my Victorian flat. I replaced the parting beads (between the panes) and the staff moulds with new timber ones that have a...
Add new comment
13 comments
I think there should be a campaign to get road crimes included in the 'Undue Leniency' rules, so that sentences can be reviewed and increased if they are found to have been too lenient (which seems to be the case when drunk, reckless morons kill or injure other road users).
He killed a cyclist. In an "accident". Whilst pissed. Apart from his relatives and friends no one but other cyclists seem to care....
This isn't going to change until folk band together and make the leniency of sentencing policy for road deaths a political issue and lobby hard on it. But that isn't going to happen as the vast majority of cyclists are
a) motorists
b) convinced it won't ever happen to them
c) accepting of road casualties as part of the price of running UK plc
so maybe cyclists, as a group, don't really care either.
My MP has stopped answering, or even acknowledging, my letters on the subject.
I don't know why it's called justice in the first place, it should be called "another piss take". It's still the best way to commit murder in this country by far.
When the daily mail is the most broadly read paper/website, the majority of people use cars to go 200metre for a pint of milk and oil/transport/finance/car manufacturers are giving millions to political parties, what realistic chance is the there of the present goverment increasing the penalty for driving offences?
Just hang him and be done with scum like this.
How can driving when pissed, killing some one, merit only a causing death by CARELESS driving …..hmmm?!! It's obviously dangerous.
I feel so sorry for the Orrey family as this whole saga seems to have been an absolute fucking disgrace. Justice my arse. The arsehole Gordon Allen should be serving 15 years minimum. He got 3 years for attacking some one else whilst on bail!!!!
As I say the guy should HANG. I would vote for the death penalty for scum such as this. I would even pay more tax ring fenced to build more prisons for scum such as this to serve life means life sentences.
What a joke the justice system is.
8 years means hes an LTP, than means that the earliest he can apply for Parole is at 4 years, that doesn't mean he will get out at half sentence, but yes its possible he could. Also the family need to check if the 3 years for the assault was added consecutively or concurrently to his original death by careless driving sentence. If it was added consecutively the 11 year sentence will stand.
To make things worse his 10 year driving ban wont stand either. If you can prove you can benefit from having a driving licence for work or to help care for a ill or disabled relitive you can get it back much earlier. More do-gooder "no one cares about the victim" pish.
Give him a choice - either serve your full sentence and that's that, or you can be released early but will never, ever drive again.
He was disqualified when he killed the two cyclists. A lifetime ban will mean as little to him as the extended ban he has just received.
There is something truly troubling when someone as apparently unpleasant and lawless as this man is rushed through prison and spat out the other end as fast as possible.
Little wonder there are so many reoffenders.
Cyclist are the new black.
The offences are sound, its the length of sentences that should be looked at by any Govt and any incident involving a death which involves negligence of any sort should carry at least a 10 year minimum sentence.
The British justice system is not the worst in the democratic world for sure, but it does seem to value procedure over morality and the rights of the criminal (which should be forfeited once you cross that line) over the victim. I'm not surprised the family are calling for change.
What, what...British Justice system. It would appear that justice was not served this time. Silly me, it's not justice, it's the law.
Very, very sad.