Death driver forged licence for 12 years before accident

A FUNERAL director who knocked down and killed a pensioner had been illegally driving hearses with a forged licence for more than 12 years.

Darrin Brooks of Western Avenue, Buckingham, fooled bosses at the Cooperative Society by giving them a photocopy of his wife's driving licence with his picture and details superimposed.

He used it for 12 years before he was finally caught out, after he hit 76-year-old Isobel Surridge with a company car, killing her.

When questioned by police he said he used the forged driving licence because it had "simply got him the job" at the funeral firm.

Brooks, 43, appeared at Aylesbury Crown Court yesterday and, in a unique prosecution, was sentenced to 240 hours of community service for forging a driving licence and other driving offences.

It is believed that he is the first person in the UK to be successfully prosecuted for the offence of causing death by driving while unlicensed, a law which only came into force on 18 August last year.