Bowles appeal fails
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• Two haulage bosses who were given suspended jail sentences followng a fatal accident have failed to clear their names in the Appeal Court.
Stephen Bowles and his sister Julie were convicted of manslaughter last year for turning a blind eye to widespread breaches of the law after one of their drivers caused two deaths when he dozed off at the wheel.
Philip Sapsford QC, representing the pair, said the jury might have been prejudiced by publicity surrounding the Southall and Paddington rail disasters.
He argued that the Berkshire-based air freight company's policy on monitoring its drivers' work patterns exceeded industry standards. And he claimed the jury had not been made aware of "the very high degree of negligence necessary to satisfy the criminal test".
But Lord Justice Tuckey said the question of whether the Bowles' negligence was serious enough to amount to a criminal offence was "supremely a matter for the jury".
He said evidence about Julie Bowles reprimanding a driver over working excess hours and then telling him not to get caught in the same breath was a prime example of "speaking with a forked tongue".
At last year's trial, Andrew Cox, who caused the two deaths in a seven-vehicle pile-up on the M25, was jailed for 30 months. Stephen Bowles, from Old Windsor, got a 15-month suspended sentence: Julie Bowles, from Ascot, was given a 12-month suspended sentence.