Drink driver jailed

A YOUNG driver who was 50% over the drink-driving limit when she crashed, killing her friend and injuring a gifted young Thame sportsman, has been jailed for 28 months.

Today (9/10/09), Gabriella Edmondson, aged 18, from Beacon Hill in Penn, High Wycombe, was also disqualified from driving for four years after pleading guilty to causing death by careless driving while over the prescribed limit of alcohol.

Her friend, Grace Hadman, also aged 17, was killed in the accident, and 18 year-old Joe Robinson, from Thame, was seriously injured, and left with brain injuries that, in the words of his mother, meant that a..”funny, articulate, clever and superb sportsman has been damaged forever.”

The fatal collision happened on the A34 in Oxford on April 07/09, after a night out went tragically wrong because Miss Edmondson decided to drive her friends home, despite knowing that she had been drinking.

Judge Patrick Eccles QC, said that he accepted that Miss Edmondson was: “…heartbroken, racked with guilt and a decent, moral young woman.” But added that the suffering of others and his public duty to consider that a life had been taken because of combination of alcohol and negligence, left him no alternative but to administer a custodial sentence.

“I can only hope,” added the judge, “that if your sentence stops one young person from picking up their car keys after a party, it is worth it.”

Miss Edmondson will serve half her sentence in custody and the other half in the community.

In a statement Sgt Nick Perks, leading the investigation, said: “On behalf of Thames Valley Police, I would first like to offer our sincere condolences and sympathies to both the families of Grace Hadman and Joe Robinson. Our thoughts are with them at this difficult time.

“This tragedy has robbed a young woman of her life, a family of their loved one and the life of another young man will be changed forever.

“As this tragic case shows, driving needs your full attention and drinking alcohol and then driving can have potentially horrific consequences.

“If you drink and then drive home you are not just putting your own life in danger, you are jeopardising the lives of other road users.

“A girl was needlessly killed, a young man was seriously injured and now another young woman is serving a prison sentence.

“It is not difficult to avoid drink driving – take a taxi, stay at a hotel or friend?s house or just don?t drink.

“Our message is clear, drinking and driving can kill. Please don?t do it.”