A drink driver who reached 100mph during a police chase before smashing into a tree and killing a passenger on Christmas Eve has been jailed.
Charlie Hilton had been refused entry to a pub in Morden, south London, when he overloaded his Mercedes on December 24 last year.
The 25-year-old refused to pull over for police and after a three-mile pursuit lost control of the car, leaving Lillie Clack, 21, and three others with serious injuries.
London Ambulance Service and London Fire Brigade joined Met officers at the scene in Carshalton, Sutton, with six people taken to hospital.
Lillie died on December 28.
Hilton pleaded guilty to causing death by dangerous driving and causing serious injury to three others, reports MyLondon.
He was yesterday jailed for 10-and-a-half years and disqualified from driving for five years at the Old Bailey.
A judge told him his actions were "stupid, selfish and mindless".
The court heard Lillie and her boyfriend Jack Watson had spent Christmas Eve at Winter Wonderland in Hyde Park before bumping into best pal Delia Casey and her partner.
The group went to the Ganley's Irish Bar where Hilton and a friend were refused entry.
After Lillie and her friends left the pub, Hilton offered them a lift home.
Police quickly spotted the car due to its excessive speed and began pursuing, signalling for the driver to pull over.
The passengers pleaded with Hilton to pull over but he refused and continued to accelerate on residential streets with speed limits of 40mph.
His surviving passengers recalled their heads 'bumping' on the ceiling due to the speed.
After three miles the police lost sight of the Mercedes and gave up the chase.
A short while later, Hilton lost control of the car and hit a tree causing the vehicle to flip upside down and catch fire.
Local residents, including an off-duty nurse, pulled the unconscious passengers from the car and helped with on-site resuscitation until paramedics arrived at around 00.20am on December 25.
Delia suffered life-changing injuries including broken bones in her back which required extensive surgery.
She now suffers panic attacks and a deteriorating mental health, and was confined to one room for several months requiring constant help with her mobility.
Jack, Lillie’s boyfriend, also suffered serious injuries including a leak to the brain and a punctured lung, while another passenger, Callum Smith, suffered a wound to the head, broken bones and two punctured lungs.
In her victim impact speech, Lillie’s mum Debbie said: “I don’t like to go to sleep anymore because I know when I wake up Lillie isn’t going to be there.
"Living without Lillie is like living without air, sometimes I struggle to breathe. She was my absolute best friend, Lillie was my constant companion, going shopping, eating at restaurants. She was my confidante and my confidence.”
Since her daughter’s death, Debbie has been unable to work and told the court that she spent every day at Lillie’s memorial garden.
Becoming tearful, she said: “I always think did she suffer, I know she would have been scared and I knew she would have wanted mummy.
"My heart is shattered to a million pieces and Lillie is the only medication that can fix it. My heart longs for Lille, my baby, my heart is broken.”
Her brother Michael said: “As Lillie’s big brother I always said I would look after her and protect her, on that day I couldn't do that.
"I feel deep inside that I've let her down, especially when she needed me the most.”
The court heard that Lillie had been “hardworking” and “ popular” throughout her life, and had enjoyed travelling and spending time with her friends.
Police investigations revealed that Hilton had been under the influence of alcohol with his blood sample indicating a level between 105mg to 215ml per 100ml, when the legal limit is 80mg.
Speaking in his defence, Isobel McCarroll said: “He wants to express his sincere remorse for causing Lillie’s death, he accepts full responsibility for his reckless actions that were thoughtless and brought about her untimely death.
"He wishes he could turn the clocks back. He will never forgive himself, he does not ask for forgiveness or ask for sympathy from the court.”
Sentencing him, Judge Sarah Munro KC said: “The decision you took to get behind a steering wheel late at night on Christmas Eve has caused irreparable damage to the lives of so many.
"Nothing you could ever do or say and nothing I can do today can put the clock back and make things better for those affected by your stupid selfish and mindless decision to drive a car in the circumstances which you did on that fateful night.”
Her family have now launched a petition through Change.org in which they are demanding that offenders charged with causing death by dangerous driving have their licences suspended immediately.
For more information click here.
