Ruislip & Eastcote & Northwood Gazette
Death crash driver ‘should not have been behind wheel’
A DRIVER who consumed cocaine before suffering an epileptic seizure and crashing into a 22-month-old toddler has been jailed. Lee Steven Burford, 44, had been driving along Eastcote Road in Ruislip, Hillingdon, before mounting the pavement and colliding with Qi Wang and his baby daughter Zhaoxi Wang, who was in a pushchair.
Zhaoxi, known to her family as Xi Xi, was flung into the air and tragically died at the scene from her “catastrophic” injuries, whilst her dad suffered a fractured arm that required surgery. An Old Bailey judge heard that Burford had been diagnosed with epilepsy in 2000, but had failed to notify the DVLA of recent seizures in 2017 and 2020 and ignored medical advice not to drive.
Appearing today, Burford, of Harrow, pleaded guilty to causing death and injury by dangerous driving, as well as admitting a count of fraud. This related to him dishonestly making untrue representations that he did not suffer from any physical infirmity in order to gain employment as a driver.
The incident occurred shortly after 4.20pm on October 25, 2020, as Mr Wang walked back from a local park with his daughter and his wife, Sha Zhang. Catherine Pattinson, prosecuting, said: “At the time of the collision, Zhaoxi was strapped into a pushchair. She was facing forwards and they walked along Eastcote Road approaching a minor roundabout in junction with Windmill Hill road which they crossed.
“As they crossed and moved further into Eastcote Road, Mr Wang was slightly ahead of his wife Sha. Mr Burford, driving the blue Renault Clio, was coming towards them from the opposite direction. He veered across the road, mounted the pavement and struck Mr Wang and the pushchair.”
Mr Wang was thrown into a low rise wall, while Zhaoxi landed in the road, before Burford’s car crashed into a telephone exchange box and a road sign. “It seems very clear that Mr Burford suffered a form of epileptic seizure at a time before the veering of the vehicle on Eastcote Road,” Ms Pattinson continued.
“The count of causing death by dangerous driving is pleaded and accepted on the basis that Mr Burford should not have gotten into the car in the first place. Mr Burford was still seated in the driver’s seat in the Renault Clio when he was approached by members of the public and by police officers. He appeared not to have known what had happened, he was confused, he didn’t know how his car appeared so damaged.”
While he passed breathalyser tests at the roadside, blood samples taken at Chelsea and Westminster Hospital later tested positive for cocaine use. It was also the expert opinion of a neurologist doctor that on the balance of probabilities, cocaine consumption would have decreased his seizure threshold and exacerbated breakthrough seizures. Due to a previous driving incident in 2018, Ms Pattinson argued that he “knew the likely consequence of consuming cocaine before getting into a car”.
He was interviewed under caution following the incident, but said that he did not recall the collision and “must have blacked out”.
He later pleaded guilty to causing death by dangerous driving, causing injury by dangerous driving and one count of fraud. The court heard that Burford had a “legal responsibility to notify the DVLA of any medical condition that may impact his ability to drive safely” but had failed to do so.
“The tragic nature of the case is perhaps even more significant because had he notified the DVLA of a seizure he had suffered four months earlier on June 22, Mr Burford would not have had a driving licence at all,” Ms Pattinson said. Due to his medical condition, his licence had been revoked in 2000 and 2004 and he had been provided with short-term licences due to the nature of his seizures.
In 2010, he was granted a full licence, and the DVLA were unaware of any incidents of concern until they were informed by the police on October 26 that he had been involved in a fatal collision. He had suffered an epileptic seizure in February 2017 but had failed to notify the board of his condition.
In July of that year, he also sought employment as a driver and denied that he suffered from any heart complaints, diabetes, fits or any other medical infirmity in an employment declaration form. On the evening of July 31, 2018, he suffered a seizure whilst driving a vehicle which resulted in a nonfatal collision, and he once again failed to inform the DVLA.
On that occasion, he admitted that he had taken two lines of cocaine that evening and told his line manager that he was going to have his licence revoked. While this did not happen, she responded that “she was grateful no one had been seriously injured”.
In 2019, he was advised twice by medical practitioners that he should not be driving or taking non-prescription drugs and that he should only carry out warehouse work. Just four months before the fatal collision, he suffered another seizure but failed to inform the DVLA.
In a victim impact statement read aloud by the prosecutor, Zhaoxi’s dad said that Burford had “abused his position for his satisfaction”. He said: “The loss of our one and only child, a little girl called Xi Xi has been the worst thing that has happened to me and my family. It has been absolutely devastating for us.”
He described the “unimaginable pain” of their loss and said that they visit her grave each day to water the flowers while her bedroom has remained the same way as the day she died.
“She was such a lively child and there were many funny moments,” he said. “We spent a lot of time going on walks, we would go to different places and go to the park.
She was such a joyful spirit, when we had Xi-Xi it was the happiest time of our lives.”
“We were blessed to have such a beautiful child who was taken from us by someone who chose to drive when they shouldn’t have been driving,” he added.
“What I would like to say to the defendant is; you should have stayed away from driving. You will never know how it feels to be in this situation. To be in our shoes. We were trying to be responsible, good citizens, abiding by the law but of course we had no control over other people. You did the opposite.”
Meanwhile, his wife described the traumatic moment she realised the toddler was dead in the road and how she “fell down screaming” at the sight of her injuries.
“The last two years have been totally empty, when I think about what I have done I have done nothing. There is no progress,” she said. “It makes me angry that people like him don’t care about others and they not only put themselves but others in danger for their own selfish desires.
“What I would like to say to him is that even if he is sent to prison, he will come out whereas we will carry a life sentence for the loss of our daughter. It is not fair.”
She continued: “My daughter meant everything to me, losing her like that has shattered my life, I miss her so much.”
Speaking on Burford’s behalf, Aneurin Brewer said the dad-oftwo has seen a rapid deterioration in his epilepsy following the incident and that he has shown “remorse” for his actions. “The guilt for what he has done and for what he is responsible for will stalk him every day for the rest of his life,” he said.
Burford was jailed for four years and two months for causing death and injury by dangerous driving and fraud, having previously denied one count of manslaughter. Burford has also been disqualified from driving for seven years and one month, and must take a re-test to reacquire his licence.
PARENTS DESCRIBED THE LOSS OF THEIR ONLY CHILD AS ‘ABSOLUTELY DEVASTATING’