A EDMONTON van driver responsible for a “truly awful” accident which killed two people has been spared jail.

Larkland May was making deliveries in April last year when his van rolled out of its parking space and crashed into a wall, killing 24-year-old David Smith and Claudia Kauert, 30.

The 52-year-old driver, who did not put the handbrake on when he left the van to deliver a parcel, was convicted of causing death by careless driving but cleared of manslaughter.

Judge Geoffrey Rivlin QC said today at Southwalk Crown Court that although May played a major contributing factor in the accidents, the “exception” circumstances had also played a part in what happened.

He said: “The facts of the case are so unusual, so exceptional, so awful, that maybe it is impossible for anyone to devise a truly just sentence in this case, either from your point of view or from the standpoint of the two victims and their grieving friends and relatives.”

May's van, which was described during the trial as an “accident waiting to happen”, was nudged by another car shortly after the driver left it, in Pudding Lane, near Monument.

The driverless vehicle then silently rolled down the hill and crashed into the two victims who did not see the danger until it was too late.

In a statement to the court written during the trial, Denise Smith, David's mother, wrote about the impact the accident had had on her family.

She said: “We are all devastated and can't come to terms with the fact that David has gone. Since David's death, my husband and I are seeing doctors and have been take antidepressants and sleeping pills.

“We can't get through the days and nights without medication and my husband has been unable to work since David died.

“No one can give us what we want, and that is David back. The agony is that David's life has been taken away and he was just 24.

“He was my first born and only son, his death has left a huge hole in our lives. This was a tragic event in which David was at the wrong place at the wrong time."

And in a second statement written during the trial, Mrs Smith added: “Although it is heartbreaking for our family, we share compassion with Mr May's family who are living with the thought of what happened.”

Judge Rivlin said of her words: “I regard her statement as among the most courageous, compassionate, and moving documents I have ever heard, and I truly believe it makes a marvelous tribute to her son.”

The Smith family tearfully watched in court this afternoon as May, of Hawthorn Road, was given a 32-week jail sentence suspended for two years and ordered to do 150 hours community service.

He was also banned from driving for three years, having pleaded not guilty during the trial by arguing that he had put the handbrake on when he left the van.

Judge Rivlin added: “Your failure to accept responsibility in the trial for an offence you plainly committed means your period of disqualification will be longer than the 12 month minimum.

“I now know, and in no uncertain terms you have said, how terribly sorry you are for what happened.”

May, who was supported in court by more than a dozen friends and family, was also ordered to pay £700 costs, and could face jail if he commits another offence in the next two years.