Latest news with #Violet-Grace
Daily Mirror
23-05-2025
- Daily Mirror
Mum and dad whose daughter, 4, was killed share urgent request
When our precious daughter Violet-Grace was killed some people said to us that she was in the wrong place at the wrong time. We know Violet Grace was exactly where she should have been-on the way to pick up her little brother with her Grandma Angela. Aidan McAteer hit them whilst speeding in a stolen car. He was in the wrong place at the wrong time and fled the scene – after stepping over her on the pavement to recover property from the car. He took her life without giving her a second chance, yet criminals like these are nearly always given another opportunity after serving their so-called sentences. We miss her every single day. She lost everything that was ahead of her, her future. Our lives will never be the same again. Yet her killer was in prison just months longer than Violet Grace was alive. We believe strongly that too often our justice system doesn't actually deliver what victims, their families and most of the public would consider to be justice. That is why we helped to set up Justice for Victims - to work with MPs and the public to make sure the voices of victims are front and centre. We were disappointed that the sentencing review - an opportunity to ensure the worst offenders got sentences that reflect justice - didn't want to meet with us or even explain to us how they were considering the views of victims and their families. The review has now recommended letting some of the worst offenders out of prison early. That isn't putting victims and their families at the heart of our justice system. It is important to remember prisoners already get out halfway through their sentence anyway. Follow our Mirror Politics account on Bluesky here. And follow our Mirror Politics team here - Lizzy Buchan, Mikey Smith, Kevin Maguire, Sophie Huskisson, Dave Burke and Ashley Cowburn. Be first to get the biggest bombshells and breaking news by joining our Politics WhatsApp group here. We also treat our community members to special offers, promotions, and adverts from us and our partners. If you want to leave our community, you can check out any time you like. If you're curious, you can read our Privacy Notice. Or sign up here to the Mirror's Politics newsletter for all the best exclusives and opinions straight to your inbox. And listen to our exciting new political podcast The Division Bell, hosted by the Mirror and the Express every Thursday. If the Government wants to force prisoners to do what most of us do every day anyway - work, follow the rules, refrain from drugs - they should extend their sentences if they won't. Not let them out earlier. I would say to everyone who feels the same way we do to write to their MP and say no-not in your name. Tell them you want families like ours and victims like Violet Grace to get justice - not more soft justice for some of the worst offenders. Not an easy way out.
BBC News
27-03-2025
- BBC News
Violet-Grace Youens: 'Perfect daughter' did not get justice
The parents of a four-year-old girl who was fatally hit by a stolen car driving at 83mph (134 km/h) have appealed for the criminal justice system to better reflect victims and families' Youens and her grandmother Angela French were crossing Prescot Road in St Helens, Merseyside, on 24 March 2017 when they were struck by a Ford Aidan McAteer, then 23, and passenger Dean Brennan were captured on CCTV running past the dying little girl and her severely injured who fled to Amsterdam and only returned to the UK after an appeal by his mother, was jailed for nine years and four months for causing death and serious injury by dangerous driving. Brennan, who was 27 at the time, admitted aggravated vehicle taking and assisting an offender. He was jailed for six years and eight months. Both McAteer and Brennan were released on licence halfway through their prison terms, although McAteer had his time behind bars increased slightly after he was caught using social media while in parents, Becky and Glenn Youens, described the length of their prison sentences as "insulting".Mrs Youens said the time they spent behind bars was only a few months longer than their little girl's years after their daughter's death, the Youens have launched a campaign called Justice for Victims. They said they were "hopeful" politicians would listen sympathetically to their calls for those in the criminal justice system to have more regard for victims and their families. Mrs Youens told BBC Radio Merseyside that Violet-Grace was "a cheeky, happy, loving and caring and compassionate four-year-old little girl who loved to dance".Violet-Grace, who adored ballet, was "loved by all her friends and family," her mum added."She loved Trolls and Frozen and she was just the perfect daughter. "She loved her baby brother - she was a beautiful soul."Violet-Grace's parents decided to donate her organs. Mrs Youens said this decision, made on Mother's Day, ultimately saved two Violet-Grace's funeral, her mother said she did her little girl's make-up."I had to do that as her mum because I needed her [to] go on her onward journey, knowing that she loved rifling through my make-up bag when she was alive and she just used to love make-up."This act of love was something "no mother should have to do", she said. 'Proper punishment' A change in the law in 2022 increased the maximum sentence that judges could hand down to anyone convicted of causing death by dangerous driving, from 14 years to the possibility of life in Youens said that while his family had supported this principle, he had yet to see a single case in which a life sentence had been passed."These new laws that are passed in people's memories are not just for making families feel better," he said. "Change needs to happen."The family's campaign is backed by the parents of Sarah Everard, who was murdered by a serving Metropolitan Police officer now serving a whole-life prison stated aims of the Justice for Victims campaign are to "demand proper punishment for the worst offenders and sentencing laws that truly reflect the devastation caused by violent crimes".The Youens said they had received "cross-party" support for their campaign and hoped it would lead to government. "We don't want other families to face the injustice that we have," said Mrs Ministry of Justice has been approached by the BBC for comment. Listen to the best of BBC Radio Merseyside on BBC Sounds and follow BBC Merseyside on Facebook, X, and Instagram, and watch BBC North West Tonight on BBC iPlayer.
