A mum-of-three who mowed down and killed a suspected thief in a revenge hit-and-run road rage attack has been jailed for 14 years. Thomas Maguire, 30, suffered fatal injuries when he was knocked off a motorbike by Kerry Fair, 39, in Kingstanding, Birmingham, last May.
A court heard Fair reached speeds of 86mph in her Ford Focus to “teach him a lesson” after believing he had stolen a motorbike from her daughter’s house. She ploughed into the Yamaha motorbike along Kings Road before dumping the car with the engine running and fleeing the scene on foot.
Police discovered Fair’s wallet in the front door pocket of the abandoned car and she was arrested shortly after the crash on May 18 last year. Dad-of-seven Mr Maguire was rushed to hospital by his friends where he spent three weeks in a critical condition before dying from his injuries on June 9.
Fair, of Kingstanding, was found guilty of manslaughter after a trial at Birmingham Crown Court and was jailed for 14 years on Tuesday. Following the case, Mr Maguire's family released a statement via West Midlands Police.
They said: "Thomas is our first thought in the morning and our last at night, he is loved and missed by each and every one of us. There isn’t a day that goes by when we don’t miss him. No one will ever replace him.
"We miss his crazy ways, the laughs and our mad chats and us having to tell him off. We talk about him every day and as the younger children get older they will always know how proud Thomas was of them and that they bought out the softer side of him.
"He looked after his mom and all of his family and now we will look after her, hopefully we can do him proud. Today with the guilty verdict for manslaughter and the 14-year sentence, he gets some justice, rest peacefully Thomas."
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Jurors heard that hours before the fatal crash, Mr Maguire and two others had pulled up outside her eldest daughter's home in Hartley Road, Kingstanding, in a white Tiguan. Two men sneaked into the back garden and stole a Yamaha motorbike, which belonged to Fair's daughter's boyfriend, while the third man kept watch outside.
The court heard Fair drove up to the house as the thieves were fleeing and did a U-turn before pursuing the motorbike rider. Jurors heard she hit speeds of between 76mph and 86mph shortly before the crash.
She claimed she had “accidentally” collided with Mr Maguire and had applied the brakes shortly before hitting him. Detective Inspector Michelle Thurgood, from West Midlands Police’s Homicide Team, said: “At the speed she was travelling, at the very least she was reckless to the fact Thomas would be injured as a result of her actions that night.
“Had Fair applied emergency braking when she realised she was gaining rapidly on the motorbike, the collision could have been completely avoided, which inevitably could have prevented Thomas from being injured. Our thoughts remain with the family of Thomas and I hope today’s verdict can bring them some closure.”
