Court forgot us, say drink drive victim’s family

A DRINK driving victim’s family have claimed they were told by their local newspaper that a court date had been postponed and described support services as a “shambles”.

Phoebe Johnson, 17, was killed when a car driven by her friend, Melissa Keilloh, crashed in Oct 2021. Her parents, Paul and Nicky Johnson, said they were never contacted by a court or victim support service.

During their 15-month wait for justice, they said they were only contacted by their police liaison officer, which made them feel “forgotten”. Keilloh, 20, of Hartshorne, Derbyshire, was jailed for three years and disqualified from driving for six-and-a-half years this week after admitting causing death by careless driving while over the alcohol limit.

Her sentencing took place three months later than originally planned.

Mrs Johnson, 54, of Swadlincote, Derbyshire, said: “There was no communication, other than our police liaison officer.

“It makes us feel forgotten.”

The couple described the situation as a “shambles”. Mrs Johnson said she and her husband felt as though “the seriousness of it had been diluted down” and as though “the case didn’t matter”. Delays to sentencing meant the couple had to spend a second Christmas with the case hanging over them.

Keilloh first appeared in Crown Court on Oct 27 where the case was adjourned to Dec 8 to allow a back calculation of her alcohol level at the time of the crash to be sought.

The couple were only told that it had been postponed by a newspaper reporter.

The Ministry of Justice has been approached for comment.