A convicted drug-dealer has been jailed for life with a minimum term of 18 years for murdering a woman by deliberately driving into a crowd of pedestrians.
Stephen McHugh, 28, swore at the jury after he was convicted of the murder yesterday. The jurors had heard how McHugh killed Rebecca Steer after he mounted the pavement outside a takeaway in Oswestry, Shropshire, having downed six beers, 10 double shots of spirit, and snorted seven lines of cocaine.
McHugh, originally from Fazakerley, Liverpool, had reacted to verbal abuse directed at his erratic driving by treating pedestrians “like they were human skittles," judge Mr Justice Andrew Baker said today.
Stafford Crown Court heard innocent Ms Steer, 22, was dragged under the car before McHugh fled the scene. She died two hours later in hospital.
When he was convicted yesterday of Ms Steer's murder, McHugh stormed out the dock and branded a jury "pieces of sh*t".
The judge said: "It could so easily have been much worse for the general group on the pavement.
"For Becky Steer, as everyone in court knows, it could not have been worse.
“The fact that it was illegal for you to be driving at all even if stone-cold sober (because he had no licence) makes it even more of an outrage.
“You arrived behind the wheel driving too fast and too close to the pavement – unfit to be driving anywhere.
“You drove the Volvo into the crowd like they were human skittles.”
Another pedestrian suffered serious injuries in the incident on October 9, 2022.
Ms Steer, from Llanymynech, Powys, had been enjoying a night out in Oswestry with friends when she was killed.
The law student at Liverpool John Moores University had just started a new relationship with boyfriend Huw Evans who was out with her on the night she died, the court was told.
Jurors yesterday deliberated for more than eight-and-a-half hours over three days before convicting McHugh by majority 11-1 verdicts of murder and attempting to cause grievous bodily harm with intent to the other pedestrian.
McHugh pleaded guilty to manslaughter, denied murdering the student and causing grievous bodily harm to the other pedestrian.
The judge, who ordered the destruction of Stephen McHugh’s Volvo, heard family victim impact statements, telling how Rebecca Steer wanted to become a police detective.
In one of the statements, Ms Steer’s mother described Rebecca as the “most loving, talented and kind-hearted person who you could have wished to know”.
The judge told McHugh, who made a thumbs-up gesture towards the jury as he was led away: “The fact that it was illegal for you to be driving at all even if stone-cold sober (because he had no licence) makes it even more of an outrage.
“You arrived behind the wheel driving too fast and too close to the pavement – unfit to be driving anywhere.
“You drove the Volvo into the crowd like they were human skittles.”
