A tractor driver who drank the estimated equivalent of 13 pints of beer the night before he ran over and killed an 11-year-old boy on a farm has been jailed for 16 months.
Gary Green, 52, was given a sentence of 16 months and two weeks in prison at Leeds Crown Court for health and safety violations which contributed to the death of Harry Whitlam at a farm near the city.
Green was more than two times the legal driving limit when the incident happened in August 2013.
He claimed he had drunk four pints in the pub the night before, followed by two cans at home.
But Judge Guy Kearle QC heard that an expert had concluded that Green must have consumed the equivalent of 13 pints of beer before going to bed at 2am. He was two-and-a-half times over the drink drive limit when tested the next morning.
Green was prosecuted under health and safety rather than road traffic law as he was on private land at the time of Harry’s death.
The judge told the court: “Harry was there to be seen, and the defendant failed to do that, with tragic consequences.”
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