Christopher Michael Hughes, sentenced for manslaughter of Jennifer Board applies for lighter sentence

The self-described ‘vigilante’ who crashed his car into a motorcyclist while chasing a car thief has applied to have his 12-year manslaughter sentence reduced.

Christopher Michael Hughes, sentenced for manslaughter of Jennifer Board applies for lighter sentence.

The driver and self-described ‘vigilante’ who killed a beloved motorcyclist while chasing a car thief in a horrific crash applied to have his sentence reduced having unsuccessfully argued it was “manifestly excessive”.

Christopher Michael Hughes pleaded guilty to the manslaughter of Jennifer Board in November 2023 and was sentenced to 12 years jail and disqualified from driving indefinitely.

Hughes applied for a reduced sentence in the Supreme Court of Appeal In November last year, with judges handing down their decision recently.

The grounds for which the offender made the application included his claim that the judge did not consider his young age (of 25) at the time, that the judge did not place appropriate weight on the car thief, Gregory Clubb’s role and that the judge put too much weight on their prior interactions with one another.

All arguments were rejected by the judges who stated Hughes was “properly sentenced”.

“… the tragedy of Ms Board’s death was the inevitable consequence of his deliberate conduct,” Qld court documents outlined.

Jennifer Board.

“There was no error in the sentencing judge not giving some attribution of blame to Clubb in sentencing the application for his criminal conduct.”

A spokesperson for Ms Board’s family said they were “pleased” with the outcome and “hopeful” justice would be served after Clubb’s sentence.

The Supreme Court judges acknowledged Hughes’ history which included an “extensive traffic history” having previously been disqualified from driving and at the time of the manslaughter offence, was subject to “late night driving restrictions” however was not in breach of the conditions.

Ultimately Hughes’ appeal was rejected with the judges citing that there was “no legitimate purpose for him to be driving his vehicle in pursuit of Clubb’s vehicle”.

“… and his dangerous driving and driving at speed was done deliberately for ‘the thrill of the chase’.

“It was a most serious aspect of the applicant’s offending that a completely innocent user of a public road was killed because of the deliberate manner of driving by the applicant where it was inevitable that such a tragedy would occur from that course of driving.”

It was decided Hughes cannot show that his 12 year sentence was unreasonable.

Chris Hughes.

Car thief Gregory Clubb was found guilty for his role in Ms Board’s death during a trial in August last year and is scheduled to be sentenced on June 18.

Private lawyers abandoned in appeal fumble

The application comes long after the sentence due to “miscommunication” between Hughes, his family and private lawyers about dropping the application earlier.

In the documents it outlined how the offender was originally going to lodge the application with private lawyers however confirmed with a solicitor of the firm that “he did not wish to proceed with his appeal”.

“The solicitor sought clarification from (Hughes’) aunt that the applicant intended to abandon the appeal and that was confirmed by the aunt on April 3, 2024 who spoke to the grandmother rather than the applicant,” the document read.

During that time Hughes’ application for Legal Aid funding was granted and he acquired new solicitors.

“There appears to have been some miscommunication between the applicant and his family members about his intention.”

Originally published as Christopher Michael Hughes, sentenced for manslaughter of Jennifer Board applies for lighter sentence