Shannen Headley<\/span>West Midlands<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n <\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n A man who drove his van into a woman on a golf course after being pursued by police has been jailed for 13 years and six months.<\/p>\n Suzanne Cherry died in hospital in April, four days after she was hit at Aston Wood Golf Club in Staffordshire. <\/p>\n John McDonald 52, of Booth Street in Bloxwich, West Midlands, admitted causing death by dangerous driving at Worcester Crown Court on Monday.<\/p>\n The 52-year-old along with two other men were involved in a roofing fraud at the time, the court heard, when their van was spotted by police and pursued on to the course where Cherry was playing with her husband.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Co-defendants Johnny McDonald, 23, of Molyneux Road, Dudley, and Brett Delaney, 35, of Michael Road, Darlaston, were also jailed – Johnny McDonald for 32 months, Delaney for 28 months.<\/p>\n All three men pleaded guilty on Monday to a charge each of conspiracy to commit fraud between 17 February and 12 April last year, by making false representations that roofing work was needed when it was not.<\/p>\n All three men had previously denied manslaughter charges last year.<\/p>\n John McDonald’s sentence was reduced from 18 years for his two offences after his guilty pleas were taken into consideration, the court heard.<\/p>\n Cherry’s husband Clint Harrison said on Monday that his wife’s death had left him without a future to look forward to and he only had “an empty present to survive”.<\/p>\n He said his “beautiful wife” had an “amazing and infectious zest for life” before their “future together was snatched away in an instant”.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n The court heard on Monday that the trio “were involved in a fraud on elderly householders”, charging “exorbitant amounts” for carrying out bad roof repairs.<\/p>\n On 11 April, a police officer in a marked vehicle saw them “by chance” and began to follow them after one of them turned their head away after noticing her – leading to the police pursuit. <\/p>\n Prosecutor Michael Burrows KC said the van drove off at high speed, on the wrong side of the road and was even used to ram the police car.<\/p>\n John McDonald then drove the van into the golf club and on to the first fairway with police stopping their pursuit when the van came off the road.<\/p>\n Burrows said Cherry was playing golf with her husband and had been looking for a ball near a stream when she was hit by the van.<\/p>\n “[Her husband] shouted to her but there was no time for her to react. The van crashed into her, causing her fatal injuries,” he added.<\/p>\n “The van came to a halt and the three defendants quickly got out and ran off together. Clint Harrison shouted after them: ‘You’ve killed my wife!’.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n![\"Family](\"https:\/\/ichef.bbci.co.uk\/news\/480\/cpsprodpb\/e960\/live\/c763f7b0-f076-11f0-8162-5ba718a8bc6a.png.webp\")
Family<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n![](\"https:\/\/static.files.bbci.co.uk\/bbcdotcom\/web\/20251210-151139-37baf2dfdd-web-2.36.1-1\/grey-placeholder.png\")
![\"Staffordshire](\"https:\/\/ichef.bbci.co.uk\/news\/480\/cpsprodpb\/3ed9\/live\/e5202930-f077-11f0-8162-5ba718a8bc6a.jpg.webp\")
Staffordshire Police<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n