Twinkle twinkle little star, I want to hit you with my car
Drink driver’s ‘taunts to family of grandad he killed in crash’
A DRINK driver who killed a grandfather in a car crash posted sickening taunts on Facebook after, a court heard.
John Day, 82, lost his life in the head- on collision and his wife Christine was taken to hospital with serious injuries.
She died from a heart attack nine days later. Shane Davis, 26, posted callous messages online after the crash, including a sick version of the nursery rhyme Twinkle Twinkle Little Star.
The message, which caused great distress to the Day family, read: ‘Twinkle Twinkle little star, I want to hit you with my car, throw you off a tree so high, hope you break your neck and die.’ Davis, of Cirencester, Gloucestershire, was jailed for six years and banned from driving after he admitted causing the death of Mr Day by careless driving while nearly twice over the alcohol limit.
He had already smashed his Peugeot into the back of a parked car just 15 minutes before the fatal crash, Gloucester Crown Court heard.
Davis was driving at about 70mph when he veered into the wrong lane on a busy A-road and ploughed head-on into Mr and Mrs Day’s car.
The crash happened on a sharp bend with a safe maximum speed of 55mph, the court heard. Mr Day was wearing a seatbelt but was thrown forward with such force he died on impact. His 76-year-old wife was taken to hospital but later died of a heart attack, which doctors said was not directly linked to the crash. Davis, who suffered multiple fractures, had to be cut free from the wreckage of his car and needed an operation to remove his ruptured spleen.
His blood alcohol reading was 144mg – nearly double the legal limit of 80mg. He later said he had no memory of the crash or what led up to it.
Despite the severity of Davis’s injuries, he posted a series of cruel messages on Facebook after the crash in November last year, which Brendan Moorhouse, prosecuting, said had upset the grieving Day family. One message appeared to be about the family’s car, left parked outside the court during the hearing. Davis wrote: ‘They couldn’t even afford a parking ticket with their disabled car.’ He later posted: ‘Bunch of cowards – no one has the balls to fight me – only go and hide.’ Davis also called Press photographers outside court ‘f***ing perverts’.
The Days’ daughter Suzanne said she had been horrified by a video he posted, which made fun of drink- driving and the police, adding: ‘It is just the measure of a man who has no remorse.’ She told the court: ‘Christmas was the most heartbreaking experience of our lives. To endure the sight of both our parents’ coffins in the church at a time when people are looking forward.’
She said she had suffered panic attacks and was taking sleeping tablets and antidepressants, adding: ‘This has caused us such sadness. Our lives will never be the same again.’ Her twin sister Rose said: ‘I cried for months and I still cry. I don’t think any more tears can come out.’
On the day of the crash, Mr and Mrs Day had helped their granddaughter Lydia to decorate her new home. At the time she was six weeks pregnant but was never able to share her news with her grandparents.
Sentencing, Recorder Oba Nsugbe QC said: ‘It is unthinkable that a double tragedy has befallen this family in this way.
‘I have heard heart-wrenching evidence from their twin daughters. The pain and distress they have suffered is unimaginable.’
Davis – previously banned from driving for a year in 2015 after he was convicted of failing to provide a breath sample – denied all the posts were his.
‘I cried for months’