Boston man who killed his wife with 'suicidal' driving jailed
A man who killed his wife and injured four other people in a crash following a "suicidal" driving manoeuvre has been jailed for nearly 11 years.Asen Kurtev, 46, hit an oncoming vehicle after he tried to overtake a line of cars on the A16 near Boston, Lincolnshire, because he was late for work, Lincoln Crown Court heard.His wife Sofka Mitkova, 39, who was in the front seat, died at the scene on 4 March 2024 from chest injuries.The driver of the other car was seriously injured, as were three backseat passengers in Kurtev's car.
A report by a crash investigator determined that the crash was caused by Kurtev, who "commenced an overtake when it wasn't safe to do so".In a statement read to the court, one of the injured passengers described Kurtev's actions as "suicidal, kamikaze driving".Witnesses said Kurtev had already dangerously overtaken other cars before the fatal crash.When asked in a police interview why he carried out the manoeuvre, Kurtev said: "It's the devil's work. How can I explain it?" The victims suffered injuries including multiple fractures that required surgery and ongoing medical treatment.The court heard that the passengers could not get the rear seatbelts to work and were not wearing them at the time.
In a victim impact statement, one of Kurtev's passengers said she had been seriously injured "because of someone who does not know how to drive"."I've not stopped crying. The anxiety is constant," she said."I'm so angry he has made this impact on my life."Passing sentence, Judge Catarina Sjolin Knight said Kurtev had left the victims "wrecked physically and mentally".She added: "The results of that head-on collision have been catastrophic."Kurtev, of Carlton Road, Boston, had pleaded guilty at a previous hearing to causing death by dangerous driving and to four counts of causing serious injury by dangerous driving.The judge said the Bulgarian national was likely to be deported after finishing his prison sentence.Listen to highlights from Lincolnshire on BBC Sounds, watch the latest episode of Look North or tell us about a story you think we should be covering here.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Daily Mail
22 minutes ago
- Daily Mail
DAVID DAVIS: Which side is Labour on - the troops who defended this nation in Northern Ireland, or those who tried to destroy it?
British troops went to Northern Ireland to save lives. Today, prosecutors pursue them for doing just that. To understand how we reached this appalling state of affairs, we must return to the beginning. In 1969 the British Army deployed to Northern Ireland not as an occupying force but as a peacekeeping one. Their mission was to shield the Catholic community from loyalist mobs amid spiralling sectarian violence. The IRA and their supporters are now trying to cynically rewrite that basic truth. The early years of the Troubles did not feature unrest, but murder. It was Paramilitary killings, as opposed to arrests, which defined the conflict: take the Warrenpoint ambush in 1979, where 18 British soldiers were killed and over 20 more were wounded by IRA bombs. But the IRA's campaign was not just against soldiers: its terrorists slaughtered innocent civilians, too. In Omagh in 1998, a bomb planted by the so-called Real IRA killed 29 and injured 200. These were not military operations. They were cowardly attacks on the defenceless. And yet, astonishingly, those who perpetrated such atrocities now recast themselves as victims. The IRA peddles a grotesque inversion of the truth, downplaying the scale of its crimes, while promoting a narrative of 'state abuses' designed to paint terrorists as martyrs and soldiers as villains. The Troubles killed more than 3,500 people, and injured more than 50,000. Republican and Loyalist paramilitaries caused roughly 90 per cent of the deaths. In stark contrast, British soldiers operated under the strict constraints of Operation Banner, bound by the 'yellow card' rules of engagement, which required restraint, warnings and proportionality. Time and time again, we see examples of the British military displaying courageous restraint in their confrontations with the IRA. One such case is that of Captain Herbert Westmacott, an SAS officer who was killed in an IRA ambush. Having witnessed their commanding officer brutally gunned down, his patrol entered the house from which the terrorist had fired the shots that killed him – not to exact revenge, but to detain the gunman. These troops chose justice over vengeance. Meanwhile, 1,400 soldiers and police officers died, while the Army killed only 300 IRA terrorists: a stark indicator of the lethal, asymmetric war they faced. Our troops served with discipline and honour in near-impossible conditions. And the facts bear this out: more Catholics were killed by the IRA than by any other group during the Troubles. So much for their claims to be liberators. Which brings me to the Clonoe incident, now the subject of a politically loaded inquest. Readers may already be aware of some of the facts. In February 1992, Special Branch learnt that an IRA team, armed with a Soviet DShK ('Dushka') heavy machine gun, would attack the Coalisland police station. The intelligence indicated that the attack would be mounted from the Clonoe chapel car park, so the SAS commander's plan was to close in on the IRA operatives and arrest them there as they mounted the heavy machine gun on to their stolen lorry. At 7.40pm on that dark February night, 12 members of the SAS were in position on the boundary of the car park, behind the hedgerow. However, the intelligence briefing was wrong. Instead, at around 10.40pm, the DShK was used to attack the Coalisland police station. Sixty rounds were fired at close range from the DShK. The attackers' intent was clear: to kill police officers. The gunfire could clearly be heard, and the tracer bullets were observed by the SAS patrol. After a minute or two, the soldiers heard another burst of gunfire. They did not know that this was in fact IRA terrorists firing their guns in the air as a tribute to Tony Doris, another IRA man who had been killed in a firefight the previous year. For all they and their commander knew, hiding behind their hedge, the murder gang were engaging other soldiers or other policemen. Within a minute, the lorry appeared out of the darkness, driven at breakneck speed, lurching around corners and with its engine screaming in too low a gear. As it drove into the car park, headlights illuminated the SAS position behind the hedgerow. At that point, the soldiers did not know whether they had been spotted. Fearing they were about to be attacked, the soldiers stood up, advanced on the occupants of the lorry and the three other vehicles in the car park, and opened fire. Four IRA members were shot dead, one was wounded, arrested at the scene and, notably, given first aid by the soldiers, while others fled in the three cars. Like all counter-terrorism actions at the time, the operation was reviewed by the Director of Public Prosecutions and all soldiers involved were found to have behaved entirely properly. Now we fast forward to February 2025, when Mr Justice Michael Humphreys ruled that the use of lethal force by the SAS in this incident was unlawful. The ruling is demonstrably wrong and ignores the facts. I find it hard to imagine a more clear-cut situation that would allow firing without challenge. Clonoe is just one incident in which elderly veterans are being persecuted, there will be many more. Terrorists killed 722 British soldiers during the Troubles. Not one of those murders has led to a retrospective inquest, let alone a prosecution. But today, we witness a legal crusade against the men who risked everything in the service of peace. This is not justice. While the killers walk free, authorities hound the men who stopped them, like criminals. The Legacy Act, which created a new body known as the Independent Commission for Reconciliation and Information Recovery (ICRIR) to take over all Troubles-era cases, was designed to put an end to this travesty. But the Government's dithering response has handed the initiative back to those who spent decades glorifying violence. Labour must decide whose side it is on: the defenders of this nation, or those who tried to destroy it? Our veterans, many now in their seventies, deserve peace in retirement, not a knock on the door and questions about a firefight in a chapel car park three decades ago, in which they were operating well within the law. Brave soldiers who served their country with honour, heroism and skill during the Troubles now have the Sword of Damocles hanging over them. I have repeatedly asked the Government to end this shameful campaign of retrospective justice. I have received no meaningful answer. That is why I support the petition calling for an end to these prosecutions – and the Mail's important new campaign, Stop the SAS Betrayal, to seek new legal safeguards for our troops. The petition has now passed 100,000 signatures, triggering a debate in Parliament. But that is just the start. This is not just massively important to our veterans. If this rewriting of history succeeds, this weapon of lawfare can be used against soldiers in any future conflict, destroying the efficacy of our troops when we need them most. The Rt Hon Sir David Davis is MP for Goole and Pocklington.
BBC News
31 minutes ago
- BBC News
Post Office criminal trials may not start until 2028, says police chief
Criminal trials over the Post Office Horizon IT scandal may not start until 2028, the police officer leading the investigation has told the BBC."The teams need to be really meticulous and [pay] attention to detail, but actually we are making some real progress," Met Cdr Stephen Clayman investigation has identified seven suspects, and has 45 to 50 potential suspects in view. But it will not hand files to prosecutors until after the final report from the public inquiry into the scandal is published, expected later this sub-postmaster Tim Brentnall said victims were "desperate to see some kind of accountability", but added the police should "do it properly". The Horizon IT system, which began operating in 1999, falsely created shortfalls in Post Office branches for which sub-postmasters were held liable. More than 900 people were prosecuted, and some went to prison. Some died while waiting for year a law was passed to overturn those convictions en masse. The criminal investigation into the scandal, Operation Olympos, began in 2020, and interviewed two suspects in scaled up activity after the public phase of the inquiry concluded in December last year, and another two people were interviewed under caution, where their answers can be used as evidence in court. Both were men in their Clayman said the police started with "those at the front line – the Post Office investigators, solicitors, those who were involved in the immediate decision-making".But he added: "We are beginning to scope looking at wider management. That will happen, and is happening, it will just take time to get there."He is confident there will be criminal trials, but admits that the first ones may not start until chair of the public inquiry, Sir Wyn Williams, will publish Volume 1 of his final report on 8 July and is expected to file Volume 2 later this year. Then the police will have to go through it "meticulously", hand files to the Crown Prosecution Service, and wait for a court date, said Cdr Clayman."This isn't uncommon," he said. "Other large investigations linked to a public inquiry have exactly the same thing. And I really do understand the frustration for those who are at the centre of this, who are the victims." Former sub-postmaster Tim Brentnall from Roch, Pembrokeshire, was prosecuted in 2010 when a £22,500 shortfall was discovered at his branch. His conviction was overturned in 2021. "The way the Post Office prosecuted me was completely and wholly wrong, [I was] rushed in front of the courts like a rabbit in the headlights and told I was the only one in this position when I wasn't," he said."But if the police have to take their time, they should take their time and do it properly."David Enright, a lawyer whose firm Howe and Co represented seven out of the 10 sub-postmasters who took part in the inquiry, said: "The fact is we have seen sub-postmaster after sub-postmaster die without ever seeing any true accountability. The question sub-postmasters ask themselves is: where is the urgency at the heart of the police investigation?"There are 108 officers working on Olympos, based in four regional hubs. Cdr Clayman was speaking at the Metropolitan Police's hub near the top of a high-rise police office block in Sutton, South officers spend much of their days trawling through the millions of digitised documents which will make up much of the evidence in the cases. They began with 1.5 million, and that is set to rise to six million as more documents come to force in England and Wales are involved, as are the PSNI and Police Clayman had earlier been critical of the Post Office for not handing information over fast enough, but said they were now being "quite good". Fujitsu, he said, were being "very co-operative".A Post Office spokesperson said: "The Post Office has co-operated fully and openly with the Metropolitan Police since early 2020 to provide whatever information it needs for its investigations, and we continue to do so."
BBC News
32 minutes ago
- BBC News
Hazel Stewart: Daughter considering meeting mother's killer
The daughter of Lesley Howell has said she has made initial inquiries about possibly meeting her mother's killer to discuss her role in the murder. It comes as Hazel Stewart failed in a legal bid to secure a reduced jail sentence for the double murders of her husband Trevor Buchanan, 32, and 31-year-old Lesley Howell, who was the wife of her former lover Colin Howell. Stewart is currently serving an 18-year term for the 1991 murders. The 62-year-old's fresh legal challenge was made on the basis that she was under the coercive control of Lesley's husband, Colin Howell, who is serving a 21-year sentence in HMP Maghaberry for the murders. 'I saw her as a mummy' Lauren Bradford-Clarke told the BBC's Good Morning Ulster programme she has "reached out" and made "early inquiries" about restorative justice."It's a very, very complicated thing. It would require me to really kind of drag a lot of stuff up," she said. "Being able to move forward, I think it would be quite a long process," she added. Now an assistant professor in criminology, Ms Bradford-Clarke said she uses her "professional head" in order to deal with the trauma."Following my mummy's murder, there were five years where Hazel Stewart was very much part of my life, and I very much remember her and remember the time that we had with her," she said."It's very sad in a lot of ways, I saw her as a mummy. I had lost my mum, and I wanted nothing more than to have a mum."Ms Bradford-Clarke said returning to the court is "very difficult" and "re-traumatising"."I lose sleep, I get very, very upset and emotional. It's definitely something that becomes almost overwhelming," she said. Coercive control In respect of Stewart's recent appeal, Ms Bradford-Clarke said from her recollection, albeit as a young child, the description of "coercive control" did not fit the relationship between her father and Hazel Stewart."That is not my professional opinion, that is my personal opinion," she said. "I do not think that coercive control is a factor here, and I certainly do not think Hazel is a victim."There's many victims in this case. I find it quite distasteful that Hazel Stewart is being labelled a victim here. "What about my mum?" What happened to the victims? Both victims were found in a fume filled garage in Castlerock, County Londonderry in May 1991. Almost two decades later, Colin Howell confessed to the killings. Police originally believed the deaths were the result of a suicide pact after they discovered their partners were having an extra-marital they had been drugged and murdered before their bodies were arranged to make it look like they had taken their own also implicated his former lover in the plot and gave evidence against her at her trial. During the trial, the court heard Howell had planned and carried out the killings and Stewart had facilitated them by drugging her husband, allowing Howell into her house and disposing of a hose pipe used in the murder. 'No joy, no celebration' Speaking on Wednesday after Hazel Stewart's appeal was turned down, Lesley Howell's family, referring to their mother by her maiden name of Lesley Clarke, said they were relieved that this stage of the legal process was over, but there is "no joy and no celebration"."While this decision offers some reassurance, we recognise that there's no true end or closure."Nothing will bring our mum back," her children said.
