An award-winning company director who killed two cyclists while driving home from his office has walked free from court.
Andy Coles, 56, and Damien Natale, 52, were struck by Clifford Rennie, 61, as he drove from his office in High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire, on the A40 between Studley Green and Piddington in Oxfordshire on June 1 last year.
Driving in his Volkswagen Golf and travelling in the same direction, Rennie collided with Mr Natale and Mr Coles from behind.
Damien Natale, 52, was struck by Clifford Rennie, 61, as he drove from his office in High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire. Mr Natale was sent to the opposite carriageway after being rear-ended by Rennie and found over 50 metres from where the crash happened
Mr Coles, 56, was thrown over the crash barrier and down the hill, with his shattered bicycle found wedged in a tree.
Mr Natale, 52, was sent into the opposite carriageway and found over 50 metres from where the crash happened.
Both men, who had been cycling behind one another close to the side of the road, were killed instantly, Oxford Crow Court heard.
Another driver saw Rennie's 2019-plate VW Golf swerve and hit the two cyclists on the crest of the hill.
He said Rennie, who stopped at the scene, had been holding his head in his hands and saying ''there's two of them.'
The evening had been sunny and, although overhanging trees had created patches of sunlight and shade on the road, a police crash investigator concluded that Rennie should have been able to see the cyclists.
The court was told that there had been a huge outpouring of grief for the victims of the crash, who had been keen cyclists and raised thousands of pounds for good causes.
The partner of Andy Coles, one of two men killed, said: 'I lost my world' while the wife of second victim, Damien Natale, said she felt like she was serving a life sentence.
In a victim personal statement, Mr Coles' partner, Helen Atherton, said June 1, 2020, was a date seared in her memory as 'beyond tragedy, beyond awful, beyond anything I can imagine'.
'I lost my world,' she told the defendant.
Mr Natale's son, Brady, told the court: '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 any excited grandfather.'
'You don't deserve for me to go through the pain of writing it, especially when your answer would be 'no comment'.'
Andy Coles, 56, pictured, was cycling along the A40 with Damien Natale between Studley Green and Piddington in Oxfordshire on June 1 last year. Mr Coles, was thrown over the crash barrier and down the hill, with his shattered bicycle found wedged in a tree
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'.
Derek Coles said the evening of his brother's death had been 'nothing short of horrendous'.
He described the feeling of euphoria when he learned his brother had died instantly, adding: 'It seems terrible to feel such intense relief, but we were overjoyed that he hadn't suffered.
'It is the only thing I have held onto, that he was not in pain or fear as far as we know.'
The family members expressed their frustration that Rennie had not been charged with manslaughter and the delays in the case
