Put playboy driver back in dock say family as girl dies 9 years after crash
THE father of a girl who died nine years after being left brain damaged by a speeding multi-millionaire’s son last night called for the driver to face new charges over his daughter’s death.
Antonio Boparan, 28, left Cerys Edwards living on a ventilator after he smashed his 2.5ton Range Rover into her family’s car at 70mph in a 30mph limit.
Cerys, who had just turned one, was thrown from her child seat and broke her spine. She was left unable to speak and needing round-the-clock care.
Boparan – heir to an £800million food firm fortune – was freed six months into a 21-month sentence after being convicted of dangerous driving in March 2008. Cerys died at Birmingham Children’s Hospital on Saturday, a month before she was due to turn ten. Her father, Gareth, wants new charges to be brought so Boparan can ‘serve a proper sentence’.
The builder said: ‘At the court case, the judge said if Cerys died they would be looking at death by dangerous driving in the future. He only served six months.
‘She was left on a ventilator after the crash, she caught a virus and that has killed her. She wouldn’t have been in that position if it wasn’t for the crash.’
Boparan was also jailed for 12 months this year after being convicted of violent disorder for his role in a bar brawl that left a man blind. He served six months. Yesterday, Mr Edwards, 50, described him as ‘scum’, adding: ‘I would like to see him face new charges. That would be only right and proper.’
Mr Edwards, who separated from his 48-year-old wife Tracey last year because of the strain of fighting for
‘Her smile would melt your heart’
their daughter and looking after her, also paid tribute to a girl whose smile ‘would melt the heart of anyone’.
He added: ‘She never complained and was a joy to be with.’
Boparan’s father, Ranjit, 49, is the founder and owner with wife Baljinder, 47, of 2 Sisters Food Group, Britain’s third largest food firm, with a turnover of more than £3.4billion.
His son, who was training to be a manager at the firm, was 19 when he smashed his £57,000 car into a Jeep driven by Mrs Edwards near her home in Sutton Coldfield, West Midlands, in November 2006, leaving Cerys with appalling injuries.
Boparan was charged with dangerous driving, which carries up to two years in jail. Had Cerys died, he would have faced 14 years for causing death by dangerous driving.
Outrage at his sentence sparked a campaign that led to new legislation called Cerys’s Law ensuring anyone convicted of causing serious injury by dangerous driving could face up to five years in prison instead of two.
Cerys was awarded £5million compensation in 2012, along with an annual payout of £450,000.
Following his release from jail, Boparan set up the Boparan Charitable Trust to help disadvantaged children. His father also donated £200,000 for Cerys’s care.
In a statement last night, his family said Boparan was ‘deeply remorseful for his actions as a teenager and their tragic consequences’.
The Crown Prosecution Service said police would need to provide new evidence for a charge of causing death by dangerous driving to be made. But West Midlands Police said it had no fresh evidence.