Fatal crash biker tries to buy himself out of jail
Man attempts to avoid Greek prison sentence after abandoning dying pillion
A BRITISH man who abandoned a dying 18-year-old after a motorbike crash in Greece eleven years ago will try to buy his way out of jail, for £3668.
A report in The Cumberland News states how Paul Pettinger, 35, from Banbury, Oxfordshire, was in court to face an extradition hearing so that he can be returned to Greece to serve his three-year sentence.
Pettinger was convicted in 2001 of negligent manslaughter and abandoning a victim after a motorbike he was riding with Jonathan as his pillion passenger crashed in a ditch on the Greek island of Zakinthos in 1997. He refused to return to Greece for his trial and has never served his sentence.
The parents of 18-year-old Jonathan Trueman, who died in the crash, yesterday saw the man responsible for their son’s death for the first time as he sat in the dock at the City of Westminster Magistrates Court in London.
Paul Pettinger, 35, from Banbury, Oxfordshire, was in court to face an extradition hearing so that he can be returned to Greece to serve his three-year sentence.
During yesterday’s court hearing, prosecutor Gemma Lindfield said the offence for which Pettinger was convicted was equivalent in British law to causing death by dangerous driving.
She explained there was a provision in Greek law that allows some defendants to pay a fine in lieu of serving their sentence.
Greek law stipulates that defendants can buy their freedom at a rate of 4.4 euros per day of their sentence.
That would amount to 4,818 euros for the three-year term – or £3,668.60.
Rachael Barnes, for Pettinger, told Judge Nicholas Evans that her client’s legal team had been busy exploring whether he can convert his sentence into a fine.
Judge Evans ruled that he would give Pettinger’s legal team until next Tuesday to find out whether he can pay a fine instead of serving a jail sentence.
He added: “I don’t know whether he can buy his way out of it but we want to resolve this quickly and get on with this and if necessary order his extradition.
“If he is nervous about serving three years he will have to make the money available.”
He granted Pettinger bail until March 13, when he will consider the case again.
