It was no surprise to see Dr Thuli Whitehouse walk free from court yesterday.

Judge David Morton Jack always seemed likely to take a course that many - including the family of motorcyclist Robert Murrell - have deemed was a lenient one.

He had described her as a "golden young woman" when he made his summing up remarks to the jury before it began its deliberations and said there was the option of careless driving if it decided she was not guilty of death by dangerous driving.

However that jury decided that, on evidence, by reversing around that junction and driving across the busy A420 Whitehouse had driven dangerously and caused Mr Murrell's death.

We hold no truck with Whitehouse; she has suffered and her remorse is genuine. Yesterday Judge Morton Jack laid some blame at Mr Murrell's door and it is true he was speeding.

But the jury, having heard the evidence, came to that verdict in an hour - a relatively short time - that she was to blame.

Whatever opinions His Honour obviously holds about Whitehouse's career as a doctor and personality, it appears his sentence suspending her prison term is at odds with the jury's belief and certainly Mr Murrell's partner's grief.

It is often said there are no winners in these kinds of cases and it's true. But we wonder what the judge's sentence would have been for those who also had never been in trouble before yet did not hold such a high-flying job.