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| Spencer Bell, 71, an ex-policeman and tireless charity worker was run down as he tried to help someone |
Spencer Bell, 71, a tireless charity worker, bravely ventured out onto the carriageway after other motorists had slowed and activated their hazard lights.
But as he tended the man who was already dead from the fall, Mr Bell was struck by Toyota Previa being driven by mother-of-three Iram Shahzad.
A court heard she had sped up to the scene of the tragedy and then tried to get round the slowing cars on lanes one and two by veering out into lane three.
Travelling at speeds of between 82 and 88 miles per hour with two of her young children in the back of the car, she realised at the last moment the way ahead was blocked by two stationary vehicles.
But instead of stopping like the other drivers the young mother who was on her way to a funeral thought she could beat the hold up by breaking and swerving back into lane two.
It was there between the two lanes that Mr Bell was crouched at the feet of suicide victim Alan Tretheway, 67.
The Toyota with its brakes screeching and travelling at 46 miles per hour then slammed into Mr Bell sending him flying through the air, killing him instantly.
Yesterday at St Albans crown court Mrs Shahzad, 32, pleaded to a single charge of causing the death of Mr Bell on the M1 motorway near Watford in Hertfordshire by careless driving.
Judge Martin Griffith sentenced her to 14 months imprisonment but suspended the term for two years.
He told her "This case is a tragic case for the family and friends of Spencer Bell."
He said the term "good Samaritan" was frequently overused but in Mr Bell's case it was a fitting description.
"Nothing I can say or do can fill the void left by this splendid man's untimely death," he told her.
He placed her on supervision for the next year and disqualified her from driving for the next 18 months.
She was also made the subject of a restorative justice activity requirement which means at some stage in the future she and Spencer Bell's widow, Wendy could meet if both want to.
Outside the court after the sentencing Wendy Bell said: "I didn't want her to go to prison. She has got three young children and they have not done anything wrong.
"I just wanted her banned from driving."
Moments earlier Mrs Bell, who married her husband in 1973, went into the witness box to tell the judge of the impact her husband's death had had on her.
She said "My life has ended. Once it was full of laughter, giggles, chatting all day long and happiness.
"Now it is misery, sadness and tears. My life was full of cuddles, kisses, holding hands and joy."
"Now I cry all the time I am on my own, which is an awful lot. I have nothing to look forward to, my life has ended and I am just marking time until I join him."
Peter Shaw prosecuting told the court how on the morning of Thursday January 30 2014 Mr Bell, from Bushey near Watford, who with his wife ran the K9 Dog Training School, was driving north along the M1 in his silver Audi A7 between junctions 5 and 6
As he approached the Bucknell Lane over-bridge near Watford at around 10.50am Mr Tretheway, who lived nearby and who was being treated for depression and prostate cancer, threw himself from the parapet of the bridge.
He landed in the northbound carriageway of the motorway between lanes two and three.
He died instantly.
Other motorists were able to slow and stop their vehicles and activate warning lights to alert other drivers to the body in the road.
Mr Bell an ex-merchant navy seamen who had served in the Met police for 31 years was able to pull onto the hard shoulder and together with another driver began waving at the approaching traffic.
At the same time the driver of a van was able to slow down and drive past the body and stop in the outside lane with its orange beacon light on the roof of the vehicle flashing.
Another vehicle was able to complete the same manoeuvre and having got past Mr Tretheway's body stopped in the outside lane behind the van with its warning lights flashing as well.
With traffic slowing to a halt in lanes one and two, Spencer Bell decided to run to the aid of Mr Tretheway.
The prosecutor said that Mr Shahzad had left her home in Burnt Oak 25 minutes earlier and was behind the wheel of her Toyota Previa with two of her children on the back seat.
She was on her way to a family funeral in Bradford but running late and there was no way she would be there in time for the 1pm ceremony.
As she approached the hold up with traffic queuing in lanes one and two and with hazard lights flashing, she decided to try and beat the traffic by veering into the outside lane.
The court was told it had been estimated she had been travelling at between 82 and 88 miles per hour as she sped past the queuing cars.
Too late she then realised the lane ahead was blocked by the two vehicles that had manoeuvred around Mr Tretheway's body and then stopped with their lights flashing.
Mr Shaw said she braked sharply and veered back into lane two, hitting Mr Bell as he tried to help Mr Tretheway.
Judge Griffith was told it was the Crown's case that Mrs Shahzad could not have been paying attention as she drove that morning.
When a Hertfordshire Police officer questioned her at the scene she said: "I didn't see him. I was not going that fast. No more that 80.
Sebastian Gardiner defending said Mrs Shahzad's marriage to her husband was over and she had now left Burnt Oak with her three young children aged two, four and 12.
The judge ordered that because of the matrimonial problems between the wife and her husband, her new address should not be published.
Mr Gardiner said his client was truly remorseful and her driving that morning had been out of character.
"She wants me to apologise to Mr Bell's wife and other members of his family and friends," he said.
Mrs Bell said following his retirement from the police, her husband had been involved in charity work and worked for Battersea Dogs and Cats Home for 16 years.
"We went into battery farms and over the years rescued and re-homes thousands of battery hens," she said.
"For many years we supported the strays on the island of Corfu by sending tonnes of food over there."
She also revealed how in his lifetime her husband had donated 100 pints of his blood.
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