Grieving family want change over drink-drive sentencing
THE parents of a young man killed by a drink-driver who swigged lager behind the wheel of his car before crashing head-on into a wall have opened up about the heartache of losing their son and the anger they feel at a justice system which has failed them.
On the evening of December 4, 2020, Lewis Morgan was out with his friends in a Carmarthenshire pub. It was a work festive party.
He was drinking and enjoying himself. It was a couple of weeks before Christmas and it seemed to be a usual Friday night aside from the coronavirus restrictions which had at that point become the norm over the previous eight months or so.
Lewis didn’t drive home that night. Instead, he was picked up by his brother Lloyd, and they returned home. Another young man at the party did drive, however. He had consumed five or six pints of cider and then got into his car. He drove to Lewis’s house in Carmarthen, drank some more, then got back into his car.
He then stopped to buy more alcohol from a local shop and then got back into his car once more. He drank lager from a bottle as he was driving and hit speeds of 100mph as he headed east towards Ammanford.
At around 8.45pm he finally lost control and crashed into a wall on the side of Penygroes Road in the village of Blaenau. He was taken to hospital.
Lewis, however, was not. He sustained severe head trauma and could not be resuscitated. He died at the scene. He was 20 years old.
At this point his loving family were still blissfully unaware of the horror that had just occurred. To them, at that stage, it was just a normal Friday night. They had no idea of the pain that was about to enter their lives, a pain that still hurts as acutely today as it did when it was delivered by a police officer at the front door.
“There was a knock on the door at about 11pm that night,” remembers Lewis’s mum Angharad. “I just thought it was Lewis coming home.
“Lloyd was downstairs. He opened
the door and he came to tell me that there was someone here to see me. I saw two police officers standing at the door. I just knew, I knew straightaway, and then my world just stopped.”
As Lewis’s parents are divorced his father Martin didn’t know at this stage what had happened. His son Lloyd called him and asked him to come over to the house. The rest is a bit of a blur, one that saw Martin actually travel towards the scene of the fatal crash which had killed Lewis a couple of hours previously.
“I didn’t know what had happened but when I got to the house I saw the police car outside,” said Martin. “They told me and I just couldn’t believe it.
“What I wanted to do was tell my daughter in person so I drove up towards Ammanford where she was living at the time.
“As I was driving up there I passed police that were coming the other way. I realised that I was actually heading to the spot where the accident was, the spot where Lewis died. I was in such a daze. I got to my daughter’s house in the end and we were all together that night.”
The family’s nightmare was only just beginning. They still had to go to Glangwili Hospital in Carmarthen to formally identify Lewis’s body, a process unimaginable for anyone fortunate enough to have never lived through it.
“That was really, really hard,” said Martin. “We were petrified before seeing him because we didn’t know what he would look like after the crash. But I felt a little bit better after I saw him lying there. He just looked like he was sleeping.”
When Lewis’s funeral took place Covid restrictions meant it could not be the huge celebration of life that it would have been in normal circumstances. His parents had to restrict the numbers – “we had to choose who came to the funeral and who didn’t” – which Martin described as “very unfair” given the overwhelming support and love shown to the family during the worst time of their lives.
Meanwhile, the driver of the car involved in the crash, Meirion Roberts from Ammanford, who described himself in court as a colleague and a friend of Lewis, had been arrested and charged with causing death by dangerous driving.
He pleaded not guilty despite the evidence against him which included breathalyser readings, witness accounts of his driving, witness accounts of his drinking prior to the crash, and a Snapchat video which actually showed him drinking while driving and breaking the speed limit in a state of alcohol-fuelled abandon.
“He was supposed to be a work colleague,” said Martin. “Knowing what he did – and we all saw the evidence – I don’t think he needed to go through all that (the court case).
“If that was the other way around I would have told Lewis to own up to what happened and to plead guilty. It really dragged things out for us as a family because it was upsetting to hear all the details in court. What we have gone through is just horrendous.”
Roberts, aged 26, was found guilty by a jury and sentenced to seven and a half years in prison. However, he will only serve half of that in custody before being released on licence. For Martin and his family their sentence of grief will last for as long as they live.
“I just wanted justice for Lewis,” he said. “I wanted [Roberts] to be found guilty and I didn’t really care about the sentence. But when you hear the judge saying seven and a half years but he could be out in half that time I thought it was a complete joke.
“He will be out and he can still live his life with his kids and his family. He was the driver, he was the one in control of the car, he was the one with his foot on the pedal.
“If someone walked into a post office with a gun or a knife they’d get 10 years automatically. Sentencing in this country needs to be reviewed, definitely. The current guidelines need to be looked at – they are out of date. It’s scandalous.”
Despite Lewis’s death, and despite the horror inflicted on his family and friends, it does not seem to have made a dent in some people’s views on drink-driving. High-profile cases and high-profile deaths have occurred since Lewis died that night, and Martin isn’t convinced that the message has got through to people, even if they know the pain that can come from such irresponsibility.
“I don’t think people who drink and drive realise,” he said. “Once they have had a drink or whatever they don’t care. If they are in that state they don’t think anything about the repercussions, about what can happen.
“I do think if there were bigger sentences for drink-drivers people would think twice about what they’re doing. But people know they can be out in three or four years. If there was a 25-year sentence they would think twice.”
There was a change in the law last week which increased the maximum penalty for causing death by dangerous driving and causing death by careless driving when under the influence of drink or drugs from 14 years to life. However, it is down to individual judges to decide the length of a drink-driver’s sentence and the maximum term is only a maximum and not the recommended term.
“When Lewis’s case was put to the Ministry of Justice a spokesman said: “Our thoughts remain with Lewis Morgan’s family and friends. Dangerous drivers ruin lives and though independent judges decide sentences, our new laws will increase the maximum penalty for causing death to life.”
In Carmarthen Cemetery on the outskirts of the town centre there is now a bench engraved with the words: “In memory of Lewis Morgan, 2000-2020. Donated by friends and family x.” It gives those close to Lewis somewhere to sit and to reflect when they visit his grave.
“It’s also a permanent reminder of his popularity as the bench was paid for with money raised through a memorial rugby match and a raffle organised by those close to him.
“As a family we really appreciate the help and support we have had from everyone, even from strangers,” said Martin. “The family liaison officer who dealt with us and the police officers involved were absolutely tremendous, as was the barrister in court, and the funeral director who helped us so much. Everyone has been fantastic.
“Lewis is such a big loss to us all. Lots of people miss him every single day. I think one day he would have made a tremendous father and a tremendous husband. He was brilliant at his job as a plasterer and he took pride in it and we are so proud of him.
“It’s a pleasure to know that he was a likeable kid and it’s a blessing that so many people cared for him and still do.”