Just hours after entering a guilty plea to driving recklessly or inconsiderately and killing Adrian Daniel, Lucas Akins started a League One match for Mansfield Town.
Adrian Daniel, 33, suffered catastrophic head injuries and passed away 10 days after being struck by Mansfield Town forward Lucas Akins in his Mercedes G350 in Huddersfield on March 17, 2022, while he was taking his daughter to a piano lesson.
Akins, 36, participated in Mansfield’s 0-0 draw with Wigan on March 4, just hours after entering a guilty plea to death by careless or inconsiderate driving at Leeds Crown Court. The football player has remained with Mansfield since the incident.
Judge Alex Menary stated on Thursday that he had thought about imposing a suspended sentence but had decided that only an immediate 14-month jail term was appropriate.
“The club is considering its position with regards to Lucas and will be making no further comment at this stage,” the spokesperson continued.
Prosecutor Carmel Pearson claims that the defendant “did not stop at the give-way sign.” Mr. Daniel’s wife, Savannah Daniel, told the court that it had been “like hell and a nightmare [she is] not waking up from.” She went on to say that “too simple a collision to have taken a life” and that “there was no reason for Adrian to be killed that way.”
Mrs. Daniel criticized the defendant for failing to enter a guilty plea earlier, stating that she did not want “any more lives to be destroyed from this” and that she did not want Akins’s children to grow up without their father.
Akins was described as “fundamentally a decent, honest, and hard-working individual” by his representative, Tim Pole. He stated, “I want to publicly apologize on his behalf.” Mr. Pole added that Mrs. Daniel’s “frustration and anger” over the length of time it took him to plead guilty was understood by Akins.
Handing down his sentence, the judge accepted that Akins’s remorse was genuine but by not admitting to the offence at an earlier stage, he had prolonged Mrs Daniel’s “heartache and grief”.
In a statement released by West Yorkshire Police following the sentence, Mrs. Daniel stated that “three years of hell” had ended.
She stated that Akins’ failure to enter a guilty plea earlier “makes a mockery of any remorse that Akins offers for his actions” and that the justice system had become a “farce.” Akins was also banned from driving for a year.
He has been playing for Mansfield Town since 2022 and has also played for Huddersfield Town, Tranmere Rovers, and Burton Albion.