Suspended sentence for crash driver Keith Bridges (From Bridgwater Mercury)

Suspended sentence for crash driver Keith Bridges

5:44pm Tuesday 15th December 2009

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A FORMER Minehead police inspector who crashed his car in France, killing his wife, stepdaughter and a father and daughter from Bridgwater, walked free from court today.

Keith Bridges, 52, came off the road yards from his home in the village of Berbiguieres, in the Dordogne region, in June 2006 after a night spent drinking.

He survived with a broken leg but his wife Julie, 42, her daughter Bethany Lowe, 10, family friend Andrew Dyer, 41, and his 10-year-old daughter Gabriella died.

Bridges showed no emotion as he was handed a two-year suspended sentence today for ''homicide involontaire'' - a charge akin to manslaughter - while drink-driving.

He was ordered to pay a fine of 200 euro (£180) for driving offences and was banned from the road for a two-year period by judges at the Tribunal de Grande Instance in Bergerac, south west France.

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