Richard Bower: "He was the hero of our family" -Sheffield cyclist's grieving widow tells killer driver

33-year-old Long Wan killed cyclist Richard Bower in a crash on Rivelin Valley Road in Stannington, Sheffield safter his white Mazda ended up on the wrong side of the road.

Mr Bower was cycling home from work, and at the time of the collision was observed as having a notably ‘conspicuous’ presence on the road. He was wearing high visibility clothing and a helmet, and had lights and cameras attached to his bicycle, Sheffield Crown Court heard.

The beloved family man was as described as being as ‘far over’ on to his side of the road, without coming off entirely, for a prolonged period, in submissions made by prosecutor Ian Goldsack during a hearing on February 25, 2025.

Speaking through his barrister, Chris Aspinall, Wan still cannot explain how he came to be on the wrong side of the carriageway after coming around a bend on the road in the seconds leading up to the fatal crash, which occurred shortly before 6pm on September 29, 2023.

Jailing Wan for two years, The Recorder of Sheffield, Judge Jeremy Richardson KC, branded his driving as ‘very bad’ and ‘very dangerous’ before telling him he had caused a ‘tragedy of unparalelled proportions,’ infliciting ‘devastation’ upon Mr Bower’s family.

Judge Richardson said he judged the cause of the crash to be Wan’s ‘comprehensive loss of concentration and inattention,’ which had caused him to illegally cross the road’s solid, double white lines.

“You veered right across the road, going across the double white lines, and actually mounting the curb on the other side. Unfortunately, Mr Bower was coming in the opposite direction on his bicycle,” Judge Richardson told Wan.

In a gut-wrenching statement read to the court, Mr Bower’s widow, Rachel, said she, her children and their wider family had been ‘immeasurably broken’ by his death.

She described how, in a ‘cruel twist of fate’ she had finished work, having taken severance, on the day of the fatal crash, and the couple - who were together, and in love, for 34 years - were looking forward to spending more time together as a family.

Mrs Bower said the couple were planning on going out for a celebratory meal that evening, as they looked ahead to their future together with their children.

When Mr Bower did not arrive home at the time she expected, Mrs Bower said she initially thought he was likely to have stopped off to buy her flowers, because that was the sort of thing he would have done.

But after he did not respond to her calls, she drove along his cycle route home and was heartbroken to stumble upon a police cordon.

“I knew something bad had happened. When I reached the police cordon, I knew it was Richard,” she said.

Mr Bower was rushed to the Northern General Hospital, where he remained for several weeks, before losing his fight for life on October 22, 2023.

“We’ve lost the hero of our family,” continued Mrs Bower. “My whole world has been destroyed, the grief is overwhelming.”

“He has been taken from us in such a sudden and unnecessary way,” Mrs Bower said.

She described how, in addition to the loss of her ‘soul mate,’ she now has to contend with conditions arising from the crash, including depression, anxiety and post-traumatic stress disorder, all of which have rendered her unable to continue with her career, with financial implications for their family.

Prosecuting, Mr Goldsack said the section of Rivelin Valley Road where the crash occurred was subject to a 30 miles per hour (mph) limit, which was reduced down from 40mph a short distance away, as it neared a residential area.

In a witness statement, a van driver travelling behind Mr Bower described how he had to take evasive action, by moving over to the other carriageway, to avoid a head-on collision with Wan. He said he estimated Wan was travelling at a speed of 60mph, but was keen to emphasise it is difficult to accurately assess the speed of a driver travelling in the opposite direction.

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Mr Goldsack said it had not been possible to determine whether Wan was travelling within the speed limit, but a crash investigator had determined it would have been possible to navigate the bend shortly before the crash site at a speed of 60mph, in any event.

Another statement from a motorist travelling behind Wan said she believed he was travelling entirely properly until he began to veer across the road.

The motorist said she observed Wan to be veering across the carriageway for some time, and she soon realised he was about to come into the path of a cyclist, causing her to shout out.

Wan, who had a clean criminal record prior to the fatal crash, entered a guilty plea to a charge of causing death by dangerous driving on February 18, 2025.

Continuing in his mitigation, Mr Aspinall said Wan, of Ash Grove, Penge, South East London, said Wan wished to ‘express his devastation, remorse and regret’ for causing Mr Bower’s death.

Mr Aspinall told the court that Wan admits to being an inexperienced driver, and after gaining a licence in Hong Kong in 2015, he had purchased a motorcycle.

Mr Aspinall said Wan, who moved to the UK in August 2023 - a month before the crash, had previously made a number of short trips in a hire car while in Australia, before successfully having his driving licence transferred over, allowing him to legally drive in this country.

He had only purchased the Mazda vehicle he was driving at the time of the crash less than a week before it took place, and had intended for it to be used as a family car, the court heard.

“This is something that has haunted him every day, it doesn’t compare with what’s happened to the family, but this isn’t a man who has walked away, care-free,” said Mr Aspinall.

He continued by telling the court that Wan had come to the UK, with his partner, for a better life, and since the crash has managed to secure part-time work as a teacher.

Mr Goldsack revealed how Wan, along with his partner, had travelled from Manchester to Sheffield.

Judge Richardson said he could not understand how Wan had managed to safely navigate the notorious Snake Pass, which connects the two cities, only to make a fatal driving error later on in his journey.

Jailing Wan, Judge Richardson said he had taken his ‘potent mitigation’ into account, but had concluded his offending was ‘so serious that only an immediate custodial sentence’ could be justified.

“It was very bad driving, it took the life of a decent man who had a whole life ahead of him with his wife...you ruined her life when you took the life of her husband, and I’m afraid you must be punished,” said Judge Richardson.

Wearing a grey suit, along with a grey shirt and a black tie, Wan quietly sobbed as Judge Richardson passed sentence, but nodded - seemingly in agreement - as Judge Richardson told him he would send him to prison.

Judge Richardson also banned Wan from driving for six years, after which time he will be required to pass an extended test should he wish to get back behind the wheel.

*A South Yorkshire Police spokesperson said they do not have a custody image of Wan because he ‘attended custody voluntarily and then received a postal requisition’.