Crime commissioner's son Henry Bett to be sentenced for tractor death

Updated

The farmer son of a police and crime commissioner (PCC) will today be sentenced for killing a woman while driving a tractor.

Henry Bett, son of Norfolk PCC Stephen Bett, was found guilty of causing death by dangerous driving after a trial last month.

The 26-year-old, of Hall Lane, Thornham, Norfolk, killed mother-of-two Rebecca Brown, 43, when he drove his tractor head-on into her Fiat people carrier.

Jurors at Peterborough Crown Court sitting in Huntingdon heard he may have been suffering the come-down effects of cocaine at the time.

Judge Peter Murphy warned Bett a prison sentence was "extremely likely".

Prosecutor Simon Wilshire told the court Bett is currently being investigated for an allegation of speeding and careless driving in his Land Rover on June 20 - about six weeks before the trial began.

Bett also has three speeding endorsements from 2011.

When asked during the trial how he felt about being involved in a collision which took another person's life, he said: "You can't put it into words. Horrifying."

But he added: "I do not believe I was driving dangerously."

Mrs Brown died despite her teenage son's attempt to save her following the crash on the West Acre Road, near her home village of Castle Acre, on December 4 2013.

Her car was crushed when it was hit by Bett's Fendt tractor as he returned from working on a nearby estate.

The court heard he was speeding and driving in the middle of the road when the incident happened.

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