Grieving mothers call for change to driving licences after show-off killed three of his teen friends
Grieving mothers yesterday called for graduated driving licences to be brought in after the newly qualified driver who killed their children in a horror crash was sentenced.
Edward Spencer, 19, lost control of his Ford Fiesta after hitting a verge at 64mph as he drove Matilda Seccombe, 16, Harry Purcell, 17, and Frank Wormald, 16, home from school.
Spencer, who had had his driving licence for just six weeks, already had a history of 'showing off' at the wheel before the crash, a court heard.
The car crossed the carriageway on a rural B-road and hit an oncoming Fiat, leaving the driver and her two stepchildren with serious, enduring injuries.
Prosecutor Timothy Harrington said Spencer, a farmer's son, had 'a history of bad driving, of showing off, taking risks, driving too quickly and failing to heed' passengers' warnings.
Juliet Seccombe, mother of Matilda, who was known as Tilly, said the family initially thought the collision had been a 'terrible accident'.
She said: 'We have since learned that Tilly had messaged him [Spencer] to challenge him about his dangerous driving, to which his reply was: "You underestimate me."'
Mr Harrington said evidence from social media – including one clip found on Harry's account – showed that Spencer was a 'habitually bad driver'.
The prosecutor said in one clip Spencer bragged about reversing so fast that he was 'going to crash', while another showed Spencer with four passengers in the car, including Harry in the middle rear seat. One passenger is heard saying: 'You can drive nicely when you pass and then you drive like a d*******.'
Ahead of Spencer's sentencing yesterday, the Fiat driver joined two of the bereaved mothers in calling for the introduction of black box monitors or graduated driving licences (GDLs) – which could include a ban on new drivers carrying younger passengers or a late-night driving curfew for the first few months on the road.
Judge Andrew Lockhart KC appeared to back the calls, remarking during sentencing that the 'horrific facts of this case might have been avoided' if qualified drivers were 'prohibited from carrying passengers for a period of time after passing their driving test'.
Ordering the trainee joiner to be detained at a young offender institution for two years, Judge Lockhart Spencer said it was 'an act of pure folly' to drive even close to the road's 60mph speed limit.
He was given an eight-year driving ban and will be required to take an extended driving test.
The Fiat driver, who cannot be named to protect the identity of her children, survived the crash on the B4035 between Chipping Campden, Gloucestershire, and Shipston-on-Stour, Warwickshire. She said she was knocked unconscious and came around to find the children screaming in the back seat.
Warwick Crown Court heard the young boy in the Fiat dragged his sister from the wreckage, not knowing if she was alive or dead.
The stepmother and Mrs Seccombe said that, had Spencer shown remorse and apologised, they would have forgiven him.
David Wormald, Frank's (pictured) father, said that each morning his family wake with the 'sickening realisation that Frank is dead'
Spencer, from Newbold on Stour, Warwickshire, admitted three counts of causing death by careless driving and three counts of causing serious injury by careless driving.
He and the three dead were sixth-form pupils at Chipping Campden School. All three suffered traumatic head injuries.
The parents of the dead read out statements in court in which they described being left 'broken' and 'utterly devastated'. David Wormald, Frank's father, said that each morning his family wake with the 'sickening realisation that Frank is dead'.
He said his youngest son's 'purpose' was to make his family laugh, and they were now left in 'despair' at Frank's death.
Toni Purcell, 53, whose son Harry was a twin, sobbed at the memory of being told by the doctors that 'they had done what they could but that Harry was not going to survive'.
According to the Department for Transport, in 2023 around a fifth of all killed or seriously injured (KSI) casualties from collisions involving cars were in ones that involved a young car driver, defined as someone between the ages of 17 to 24.
Mrs Seccombe, from Preston on Stour, Warwickshire, said GDLs would allow young drivers to 'gain experience without that peer pressure of having friends in the car'. Mrs Purcell also endorsed calls for GDLs.
Spencer's lawyer read out his letter to the court, saying: 'There are no words strong enough to express how sorry I am. Every day I live with the pain of knowing how many lives have been impacted.'
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