‘SENTENCE IS INSULT TO HER MEMORY’
Grieving family hit out after ‘monumentally stupid’ driver gets 7 years after causing fatal crash while high on drink and drugs:
A DRIVER who was high on drink and drugs when he caused the death of a nurse in an horrific car crash is beginning a sevenyear jail sentence.
Rebecca Louise Edwards was killed instantly when her car was struck from behind by another driven by Osian Sion Hicks Thomas on December 21 last year.
At Caernarfon Crown Court on Monday, the 34-year-old nurse was described by her teenage daughter Medi Lloyd Edwards as “amazing” in an emotional statement which said: “There was never a boring day with Mum.”
Thomas, 21, of West End, Criccieth, was jailed for six years for causing death by dangerous driving and banned from driving for 13 ½ years.
Charges of driving while over the drink and drug limits, failing to stop and failing to report an accident were also admitted, and Thomas was handed a threemonth sentence to be served concurrently.
During Monday’s two-hour hearing, he also admitted possessing an imitation firearm in Pwllheli in March and was jailed for 12 months, which will be served consecutively.
Judge Huw Rees said Thomas had made a “monumentally stupid decision” to get behind the wheel and drive that evening.
The court heard he had finished work for the Christmas break at lunchtime on December 21, and had spent the afternoon drinking at pubs in Llanbedrog and Abersoch, becoming “extremely intoxicated” by 5pm.
He later admitted to police that he had taken cocaine and this was confirmed in police tests.
John Philpotts, prosecuting, told the court Thomas and a friend left in a taxi at about 6.30pm to go to Pwllheli, where they planned to continue drinking.
But they only got as far as Llanbedrog, where Thomas had parked his Ford Focus.
Mr Philpotts said Thomas offered the taxi driver £30 to drive behind him to create an impromptu barrier, but he refused.
He was warned police were being vigilant, but Thomas refused to take the advice and drove off towards Pwllheli.
The car showed no lights, Thomas was revving the engine, and the wheels were spinning, the court heard.
Ms Edwards was driving her VW Golf towards Pwllheli at Penrhos when the Focus crashed into the back of the vehicle.
The VW Golf mounted a small wall and collided with a higher part of the structure, causing “catastrophic damage” to the car and Ms Edwards.
Mr Philpotts said she suffered serious head injuries and death would have been instantaneous.
Ms Edwards’ vehicle was seen flying through the air and landed in a field at the bottom of an embankment.
Two nurses, who were travelling separately, stopped and went to Ms Edwards’ aid, but immediately realised there was nothing they could do. Both said they had seen nothing like it and covered up Ms Edwards to shield her from view.
They did what they could, the judge said, and should be commended, but the accident had affected them deeply.
After the accident, Thomas fled the scene but was arrested later after he had made his way to a relative’s house.
He had sought their help but they had refused and called the police, the court heard.
Tests carried out just after 11pm showed he had 57 microgrammes of alcohol in 100 millilitres of breath. The legal limit is 35.
Thomas was said to have expressed surprise as he expected the readings to be higher, the court heard.
Jonathan Austin, defending, said Thomas had written a letter to the victim’s family expressing remorse.
The barrister said there was very little he could add, but pointed out Thomas had no previous convictions and was still a young man.
Accepting prison was inevitable, Mr Austin said the sentence “paled into insignificance with the family’s loss”.