A biker who downed 12 pints before a crash in which a woman friend died was jailed for five years.
Tracey Smith was killed instantly when she was flung 50ft from the pillion of James Cheshire's 600cc Suzuki, breaking her neck. A witness said they saw Cheshire riding on the wrong side of a dual carriageway and going 'very fast'. The bike slewed off the road, hit a sandstone block on a footpath and smashed into a wall.
The court heard Cheshire had taken Tracey out for a drink to thank her for looking after his house while he was on holiday. Judge Lord Wheatley told him: 'Like many cases of this kind, this is a truly tragic matter. I am in no doubt you have expressed very genuine remorse and horror, but I have to take a serious view of what happened because a human life was lost by your criminal irresponsibility.'
The judge also banned Cheshire from driving for seven years.
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