Drunk Driver Jailed For 12 Years After Killing Law Student On Crossing
A dangerous driver who drank up to 10 pints of beer and shots on a night out before he knocked down and killed a promising law student on a pedestrian crossing has been jailed for 12 years.
Liam Bowes, 37, did not stop after the VW Golf he was driving collided with Abigail Eggleston in the early hours of October 26 last year at Nevilles’s Cross, Durham, as he raced through red traffic lights at 56mph when the limit was 40mph. The mechanic, from Kelloe, County Durham, later tried to destroy evidence by torching the car, which he had borrowed from a friend and for which he had no insurance. He was jailed at Teesside Crown Court after admitting causing the 22-year-old Durham University student’s death by dangerous driving and perverting the course of justice by trying to burn out the car. He was also sentenced for failing to stop at the scene of an accident and driving without insurance. Judge Francis Laird KC jailed him for 12 years, saying his wilful decision to drive while highly intoxicated “resulted in the loss of a precious life”. Dr Christopher Wood, prosecuting, said Bowes had been at a friend’s birthday party in Langley Park where CCTV from the working men’s club showed him drinking “eight to 10 pints” of beer, as well as shots, with the images showing him unsteady on his feet and behaving erratically. He left the event around 1.30am and was driving through Neville’s Cross where Ms Eggleston’s was heading home after a night out and was close to her student accommodation. She waited for the crossing light to turn green for her, despite traffic being light that night, and should have been safe to cross when she was knocked down, the court heard. A taxi driver waiting to turn at the junction later told police that the VW Golf driver did not brake as he went through the red light and hit the student. Nor did Bowes stop at the scene, leaving her fatally injured in the road. Other road-users that night stopped to help and blocked the road to prevent her from being further injured. She died in hospital from catastrophic head injuries. Bowes was consistently driving between 10 and 20mph over the limit that night and covered the 14-mile journey home in under 17 minutes when it should have taken approximately 25 minutes if had not been speeding, Dr Wood said. Police analysed the car’s on-board computer later and found he was going at 56mph through the lights, the court heard. After the collision, he drove home and then tried to set fire to the car away from his property. He then lay low in a caravan, asking a friend later in the day if he wanted to share a pizza as Bowes said he was “starving”. Dr Wood said Bowes was arrested and was later to tell police he “panicked” after the collision. Mandy Eggleston, Abigail’s mother, said in a victim statement, that her daughter had worked hard to study law and had high hopes of a successful career as a solicitor. “Losing her has resulted in my world being completely and utterly crushed and destroyed, life can never be the same again without her,” the Northamptonshire mother said. Her daughter was optimistic and focused on the bright side of life, her mother said, adding: “She was really such a beautiful ray of sunshine.” And she said Bowes displayed “cowardice and cruelty of the highest level” by leaving the scene. Christopher Morrison, defending, read out a letter from Bowes in which he said: “I take full responsibility for the accident and there are no excuses for my actions. “I understand that my actions have changed lives forever and I will rightly so carry this burden with me for the rest of my life.” The court heard Bowes was the “mainstay” for his mother, who has mobility problems. Judge Laird said Ms Eggleston was an “all-rounder” who had interests in martial arts, singing and cookery. He said: “Those who knew her have described her as an intelligent, hard-working and sensitive young woman. “She was destined to do well in her studies and had a promising and fulfilling career in law ahead of her. “In short, she was full of life, she was the daughter every parent would want and the sister every sibling would be fortunate to have. “Sadly all that was taken away on the 25th and into the 26th October last year.”
Published: by Radio NewsHub