Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
9 years for 140mph triple killer Snapchat driver ‘far too little’
Victims’ car rammed from behind
THE family of a mother and son killed by a driver travelling at 140mph blasted his prison sentence at their inquest yesterday.
The victims were killed outright when their car was struck from behind by a driver who was given nine years in jail.
The inquests into the deaths of Mary Faxton, 88, and 55-year-old Kevin Faxton heard they suffered devastating injuries in the high-speed collision.
Speaking afterwards, Yvonne Campbell – daughter and sister of the victims – said the family was unhappy with the sentence that driver Keith Lennon got earlier this year.
She said there is “nothing we can do about this court but just don’t agree with the sentence Keith Lennon got in the first place”.
She added: “Nothing will bring my mother and brother back but it is ridiculous the sentence that he got.
It is what it is, there is nothing we can do.”
The two victims were travelling northwards on the N1 at Carrickarnon, near Dundalk, on February 29 last year when they were struck by a car driven by Lennon, of Forest Park, Dromintee, Co Armagh. The crash also claimed the life of a back seat passenger in Lennon’s Audi car – Bryan Magill, 24, from Newry, Co Down.
Lennon pleaded guilty to three counts of manslaughter and was jailed for nine years at Dundalk Circuit Court earlier this year.
The court had heard Lennon took Snapchat videos showing he was driving at 140mph just before he drove into the Peugeot car the Faxtons were in, just after 2am.
The inquest yesterday heard that Lennon and another man, who was the front seat
passenger in Lennon’s
Audi car, left the scene after the crash. It also heard another man, who was in the back of the Audi with Mr Magill, had not co-operated with the emergency services.
This man had been asked a number of times how many people were in the car to ensure all the casualties were identified.
Garda Sgt Freda Mccague said in her deposition that he had been “defiant and resolute” in not saying how many people were in the Audi which had ended up down an embankment at the side of the road. The front passenger window was fully open and the keys were not in the ignition when the emergency services arrived, the inquest heard.
The front seat passenger had left the scene with Lennon, going across fields. He claimed he had panicked and when he got home he then went to hospitals in Newry and Drogheda looking for Bryan.
Meanwhile, pathologist Dr John Ryan said Mary and Kevin Faxton suffered multiple injuries including transection of the aorta, which is a marker of a severe high velocity hit from behind. Death would have been “almost instantaneous”.
Bryan Magill had been in the back of the Audi and his body was underneath the surviving rear seat passenger.
Dr Ryan said Mr Magill had suffered head injuries which included skull fractures. He said positional asphyxia must have been a contributory factor.
In reply to a family member he confirmed he would have died from the head injury.
Nothing will bring them back.. sentence is ridiculous YVONNE CAMPBELL YESTERDAY