Fury as drink driver gets just 3 years for killing girl runners
Lucy Pygott, 17, and, inset, Stacey Burrows, 16, were killed THE mother of a young athlete mowed down by a drunken soldier screamed at a judge yesterday as her daughter’s killer was jailed for six years.
Judge Keith Cutler had told Michael Casey he will serve only half his sentence when Stacey Burrows’ mother Helen erupted in fury. “I do not get my daughter back in three years, do I,” anguished Mrs Burrows shouted from the public gallery.
Casey, 24, was speeding and well over the drink-drive limit after a night out with fellow soldiers when he killed Stacey and fellow runner Lucy Pygott.
The girls, both middle-distance runners, were about to begin training when Casey ploughed into them in his car.
Witnesses described the impact as “like a bomb going off” as the car hit the girls on a pedestrian crossing in Aldershot, Hants. Stacey, 16, of Farnborough, was thrown 150ft, the court heard. Lucy, 17, of Hartley Wintney, was hurled 100ft.
The rifleman, of Tottenham, north London, was arrested at the scene. He told a witness: “My mate had been sick in my car so I was looking down... The next thing I knew the lights were red and I hit the girls. What have I done?”
Casey, of 4 Rifles which is based in the town, admitted two charges of causing death by dangerous driving last November.
He said he had drunk three or four pints of lager as well as a pitcher of a cocktail containing six 25ml shots of alcohol.
Lucy’s mother Lisa Pygott told Winchester Crown Court that Casey had used his car as a “loaded weapon”.
Describing seeing her daughter’s body after the accident, Mrs Pygott added: “It will stay with me until I die.”
Lee Burrows, who also rushed to his daughter’s side, said: “I felt I died with Stacey that night. We just miss her so much it’s painful.”
Lucy and Stacey studied at Farnborough sixth form college and raced for Aldershot, Farnham and District Athletic Club.
Both had glittering careers ahead, the court heard.
Lucy raced for Team GB and won the 3,000m at the England athletics youth championships five months before she died.
Stacey had won bronze in the Hampshire schools crosscountry championships.
Paying tribute, Mrs Pygott said: “Lucy was a truly extraordinary girl, in appearance, achievement, personality and potential. Being humble, she never knew how much people loved her for who she was.”
Judge Cutler praised the families for their “heart-rending” accounts but said he had to stick to sentencing guidelines.
Casey will now be kicked out of the Army and was given a 10-year driving ban. He said in a statement: “I will never forgive myself... I am truly sorry.”