EXCLUSIVE: Cyclists’ widows will sue company director who ran them both over and killed them for £200,000 damages
- Tracey Natale and Helen Atherton are suing the company director who ran over their cyclist partners
- The two widows are suing Clifford Rennie, 62, more than £200,000 in damages
- The company director admitted to causing the deaths of Andy Coles, 56, and Damien Natale, 52, but walked out of court free in 2021
Two women whose cyclist partners were killed instantly when a company director mowed them down are suing the driver for damages of more than £200,000.
Company boss Clifford Rennie, 62, walked free from court in 2021 after admitting causing the death by careless driving of Andy Coles, 56, and Damien Natale, 52, on the A40 near High Wycombe the previous year.
In the accident, Mr Coles was thrown over a crash barrier and down a hill, and his mangled bicycle was wedged into a tree. Mr Natale’s body was found more than 50 metres away from the accident scene, in the opposite carriageway.
Another motorist saw the appalling scene unfold and told Oxford Crown Court he saw Rennie holding his head in his hands, saying, ‘There’s two of them.’
Rennie should have been able to see the cyclists, a police crash investigator told the court.
Rennie was driving his VW Golf and struck both the cyclists from behind, killing both immediately. but could not explain why he had not seen them as they took a Summer evening bike ride.
Now, widow Tracey Natale and Mr Coles’ partner Helen Atherton are suing Mr Rennie in the High Court following the tragedy.
Clifford Rennie, 62, pictured outside High Wycombe Magistrates Court, is being sued by the partners of the cyclists he mowed down on the A40 in Buckinghamshire
Helen Atherton is suing Mr Rennie for damages of more than £200,000 after he ran over her partner, Andy Coles
Tracey Natale said that losing her husband Damien was like ‘serving a life sentence’
Cyclists Mr Natale and Mr Coles raised thousands of pounds for charities organising sports holidays and challenges around the world
Rennie was given a two-year jail sentence, suspended for two years, banned from driving for five years, and ordered to pay £475 in costs. He will also have to take an extended driving test before he is allowed back on the roads.
He had pleaded guilty to two counts of causing death by careless driving.
Rennie, of Wallingford, Oxford, initially replied ‘no comment’ in a police interview, but later gave a prepared statement expressing his heartfelt sympathy to the cyclists’ families.
Mrs Natale, of Haddenham, Aylesbury, said she felt like she was serving a life sentence and Ms Atherton told the court that she had lost her world, and that the fatal date was seared in her memory as ‘beyond tragedy, beyond awful, beyond anything I can imagine.’
Judge Michael Gledhill KC said that both men were stars of the community, and that the two friends had gone on an evening bike ride on a sunny summer evening.
He was able to give Rennie a suspended sentence because he was not driving too fast, or under the influence of drink or drugs, but simply had not seen the pair.
Mr Coles and Mr Natale had run event company Allez Sportives, organising sports challenges and holidays around the world, and raised thousands of pounds for charities.
Mr Natale’s son, Brady, told the court in 2021: ‘In that moment you didn’t look, you took our family’s small bit of calm.
‘You took our family’s stability, you took a loving husband, you took a dedicated father, you took a caring son, you took an excited grandfather.’
‘You don’t deserve for me to go through the pain of writing it, especially when your answer would be “no comment”.’
Rennie was seen in the dock clutching at his beard as Brady’s sister, Coral, told the court: ‘This tragedy has knocked the life out of me.’
Mr Natale’s wife and childhood sweetheart, Tracey, said she felt like she was serving a ‘life sentence’.
The family members expressed their frustration that Rennie had not been charged with manslaughter and the delays in the case reaching court.
Rennie, who claimed he was a cyclist himself, could not explain why he had not seen the two men.
In a letter to the Judge, the defendant repeated his apologies and ‘sorrow’ for what had happened.
He said: ‘I sincerely hope that the justice that will be rightly served can offer some sort of closure to the families of Mr Coles and Mr Natale and they can begin to heal.’
Christopher Martin, in mitigation, said his client was ‘haunted’ by the fact he could not give his victims’ families answers about why he had not seen the two cyclists.
Rennie was a company director and an industrial chemical engineer and who had won a Queen’s Award for innovation.
Both cyclists’ families expressed frustration that Mr Clifford had not been found guilty of manslaughter
Judge Gledhill told the victims’ families: ‘No words of mine are going to bring these men back.
‘Nobody could be anything but deeply moved at hearing the impact and the effect of their loved ones’ deaths.
‘The consequences for them, their families and friends of the deceased is truly appalling.
‘Some or all of the people I have just heard from feel their lives have been destroyed.
‘But I hope that these proceedings, now that they are about to come to an end will bring some degree of closure.
‘If I could make it better for everybody concerned I would.
‘I regret to say I can’t.
‘I can only express my deep condolences and sympathy for each and every one of you.’
Senior investigating officer Sergeant Darren Brown, of Thames Valley Police’s Serious Collision Investigation Unit, said: ‘This was an absolute tragedy that needn’t have happened.
‘Due to the manner of Mr Rennie’s driving on that early summer’s afternoon last year, two men, who were simply out for a cycle ride, did not return home to their loved
‘This tragic case underlines the fact that motorists need to be fully aware of their surroundings and be aware of other, more vulnerable road users, especially when driving within national speed limits.’
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