THE widow of a father-of-eight has said she doesn’t feel justice has been done after the driver who killed him was spared jail.

Christopher Dalton received a suspended prison sentence after he admitted causing death by dangerous driving on March 26 last year.

He was involved in an accident at the junction of the A44 and Langford Lane, near Kidlington, after he drove through the junction 15 seconds after the lights had turned red.

The 36-year-old’s electric Smart Car, belonging to the Mercedes Benz dealership where he worked, then crashed into a Subaru Impreza heading south.

Paul Penney, known to his friends as Tim, was in the Impreza’s passenger seat and suffered fatal injuries, dying 10 days later in Oxford’s John Radcliffe Hospital. The 68-year-old was described as a “much loved” family man, who opened a family cleaning business after retiring from his job as a market researcher.

He had recently undergone surgery and was taking a drive for the first time in three days when the crash took place.

Now Mr Penney’s wife Shirley, who was driving at the time of the accident, has told the Oxford Mail their family was shocked by Dalton’s sentence.

She said: “We are not happy with the outcome of the case.

“We felt that he got a slap on the wrist and really just got away with it. We don’t think he should be locked up for years, but a token of justice should prevail.

“He killed someone and admitted driving through the red light, so I don’t see how they can say he didn’t see it.

“We expected some finality to come out of this, but it doesn’t feel like justice has been done.”

And Mrs Penney added that Dalton has never made contact with the family to pass on his condolences for their loss, or apologise for what he did.

Dalton was travelling at 36mph when he crashed and initially insisted to police the traffic lights had been green, until he was shown the CCTV footage.

Matthew Walsh, prosecuting, said it was accepted by both sides that the defendant had not seen the red light or intended to ignore it.

Judge Gordon Risius said Mrs Penney, of Yarnton, near Kidlington, had “no chance” of avoiding the accident and was in no way to blame.

On June 20, he sentenced Dalton to two years in prison, suspended for two years, with 200 hours of unpaid work and £2,000 costs. He was also banned from driving for two years.