Killer driver’s drug appeal
A DRIVER jailed for six years for killing two girls while three times over the drug drive limit has launched an appeal after retests revealed he was under the limit.
James Battrick, 23, is in prison after causing the deaths of 19-year-old friends Lily Butterfield-Godwin and Abbey Rogers in a car crash in December 2014 after offering them a lift. A sample tested from the roadside in Lyndhurst, Hampshire, was found by Randox scientists to contain 6.4 micrograms of cannabis per litre of blood. But a retest found it only contained a legal 1.2mcg. He had also been drinking cider.
Battrick says he would never have admitted to careless driving while under the influence of drugs had he known and his lawyers argue he should be set free now and compensated. But the victims’ families say he should be locked up for longer.