9th August 2004: The car accident
that claimed the life of Douglas Graham last November was, above all
else, a human tragedy. As well as needlessly claiming a life, it left
another man crippled and, after today's verdict, a young family will
be denied a father for several years.
Nobody other than Lee Hughes can be blamed for this tragedy; whether
it was mere stupidity or something more serious, he committed a crime
that unfortunately led to the death of 56-year-old man, and he must
pay his debt to society. He may have accidentally taken one life,
but he destroyed several by his actions on that fateful night.
I was a big fan of Lee Hughes as a footballer, but this is nothing
to do with football. His career served only to bring the tragedy into
a wider public domain, and perhaps slightly increase its impact in
that he has thrown away what many of us can only dream about - life
as a professional footballer.
I believe the club have acted completely appropriately in not commenting
on the incident prior to the trial, and terminating his contract now.
But that is incidental. Hopefully, the trial will help to bring some
sort of conclusion to this tragedy for the Graham family. They, and
those injured, will live with the consequences of the accident for
the rest of their lives, but maybe the mental healing process can
begin now justice has been done.
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