can't find this using search so perhaps we didn't cover it at the time
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-64903045A man has been jailed for 14 years after killing a young woman by driving the wrong way on a major road at high speed in a stolen van.
Ashley Loveday, 39, was driving the vehicle on the A13 in east London last November, when he crashed head on into a Toyota Prius Uber taxi.
Passenger Grace Payne, 21 was killed and the driver, Sundar Ali, 59, was seriously injured.
The court heard Loveday was going up to 97mph and he had cocaine in his system.
Loveday, from Canning Town, east London, pleaded guilty to causing Ms Payne's death and causing serious injury to Mr Ali by his dangerous driving.
Old Bailey Judge Mark Dennis KC told him: "Your actions on that fateful night in November last year involved driving at the highest level of dangerousness to others in a prolonged and determined course of dangerous driving, leaving in its wake two victims.
"It has caused indescribable anguish for many and irreparable harm."
Ms Payne's parents paid tribute to their daughter in a victim impact statement read out by the prosecutor.
They said: "Grace's death has left us as a family devastated."
"We are struggling to come to terms with the fact that our daughter will never be coming home," they added.
Too dangerous
Ms Payne was described as a "caring, compassionate, bright, funny, bubbly" person who loved children and planned to one day retrain from human resources to become a primary school teacher.
Police officers pursued Loveday after the van he was driving activated an Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR) camera.
Loveday failed to stop or slow down but instead increased his speed in the 30 mph zone when officers started to follow him.
Officers discontinued their pursuit after Loveday joined the A13, deeming it "too dangerous" to follow him travelling against oncoming traffic.
The court heard Loveday has been before the courts since he was 16, having been convicted of 81 offences on 54 occasions between 2000 and 2022.he needs locking away permanently !
Login
Register
FAQ
