The partner and sister of Graham Roberts, who died in October 2008 after his motorbike was in collision with a car near Lancaster and Morecambe College, are outraged after the CPS failed to tell them about the final court appearance of the driver who caused his death.
Graham's partner, Heather Roberts and sister Wendy Harding were not informed about the hearing until afterwards.

The family desperately wanted to "have their day in court".

And now Heather and Wendy say they are struggling to move on with life after missing out on an important part of their grieving process.

"I think the way it's been dealt with has been disgusting," said Heather.

"Had I known when he was in court, I would definitely have been there. The family has been left totally in the dark. How can this have happened?" The CPS has sent a letter of apology to Wendy, admitting the police family liaison officer was not informed the hearing at Preston Magistrates' Court had been changed to June 1 from the original date of June 18.

The letter says: "The CPS takes very seriously its responsibility to bereaved families...we take very seriously the fact that we have failed in these responsibilities in this case."

Wendy said: "There's been a lack of closure for all of us.

"My brother had four children who needed to know that justice was done.
"For us as a family, nothing will ever be finished.

"Graham was on life-support for three days and then we had to make the decision to turn the life-support machine off. That was devastating enough without being told we couldn't have our day in court.

"And there's nothing we can do about it now." Graham died after receiving serious head injuries from the collision – which occurred while he was riding his motorbike on Morecambe Road on October 13,
2008.

"He loved riding his bike, it was his life," said Heather.
"I miss him so much and absolutely love him to pieces."

An HGV driver, Graham, who was originally from Wales, had four grown-up children, Adam, Davie, Peter and Denise, and three grandchildren.

James Altham, 35, of Rennie Court, Lancaster, pleaded guilty to causing the father-of-four's death by driving without due care and attention.
Altham was banned from driving for two years, and ordered to do 200 hours of community service and pay £50 court costs.

* HEATHER Roberts has asked The Visitor to raise awareness of the 'Think!' motorcycle strategy, a Government initiative which promotes road safety.

See http://www.dft.gov.uk/think/ for details.