Edward Spencer, 18, has been sentenced to two years in prison after causing a fatal crash that killed three of his friends just five weeks after passing his driving test.
Spencer was speeding at 64mph when he lost control of his car, colliding with a Fiat 500, killing passengers Harry Purcell, 17, Matilda "Tilly" Seccombe, 16, and Frank Wormald, 16.
Spencer's reckless attitude to driving, evident in Snapchat videos of him boasting about dangerous driving, contributed to the tragedy. He was also convicted of causing serious injury to others.
The victims' families, devastated by the loss, criticized Spencer for his lack of remorse.
The case highlights the dangers of young, inexperienced drivers and calls for stricter measures to prevent such accidents.
Spencer will serve his sentence in a young offenders institution.
Spencer was speeding at 64mph when he lost control of his car, colliding with a Fiat 500, killing passengers Harry Purcell, 17, Matilda "Tilly" Seccombe, 16, and Frank Wormald, 16.
Spencer's reckless attitude to driving, evident in Snapchat videos of him boasting about dangerous driving, contributed to the tragedy. He was also convicted of causing serious injury to others.
The victims' families, devastated by the loss, criticized Spencer for his lack of remorse.
The case highlights the dangers of young, inexperienced drivers and calls for stricter measures to prevent such accidents.
Spencer will serve his sentence in a young offenders institution.
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FunTranscript
00:00I'm Juliette Seccombe and I'm Tilly's mother, yes.
00:09There are no winners here today, only losers.
00:12We have lost our beautiful daughter who had assessed for life
00:16and had her future mapped out before her.
00:19A life that I know would have achieved great things.
00:24Edward Spencer took away that life due to his reckless behaviour,
00:27putting his own ego before the safety of himself, his passengers and other road users.
00:35No sentence will bring back our daughter
00:37and we take little comfort in the punishment of someone else's son.
00:43However, we hope that Edward Spencer can at last reflect on his actions
00:48and finally accept responsibility for the devastation he has caused.
00:53We would like to thank all the emergency services who attended the scene,
00:59the hospital staff and the police investigation team,
01:03all of which have shown us incredible kindness and support.
01:07She was a beautiful girl, she was bright, funny, she was kind
01:10and she just had an army of friends and family that loved her.
01:15To lose a child is probably every worst nightmare a parent could have.
01:22I think if he'd been brave enough to hold his hands up and say,
01:27I did something very stupid, we would have, as parents, we would have forgiven him.
01:32We would have realised that it was a silly mistake that he made.
01:36But because he's shown no remorse, it's been particularly hard for us.
01:46My name is Toni Purcell and I'm Harry's mum.
01:49It's an indescribable suffering, a never-ending nightmare and a lifetime of sadness.
01:54We loved every minute of watching Harry grow into such a kind, loving and so very funny young man.
02:00Now we can only imagine what his future would have been.
02:03We carry such guilt that we're still here, but Harry's life has been taken.
02:09Our hearts are broken beyond repair and we now only have memories that will hold tight forever.
02:15Edward Spencer was speeding when he killed our son.
02:19Harry's death was completely avoidable.
02:22Our family and so many other families will be forever impacted by his actions that day.
02:28Yet it has taken almost two years for him to plead guilty.
02:32We'll never forgive him.
02:35Even though the numbers of young drivers have dropped significantly since 2010,
02:40in 2023 they caused 4,959 deaths and serious injury on the roads.
02:47This number has increased by 11% from the year before, according to government data.
02:52I now want to say this to the government.
02:56Whilst you are not considering graduated driving licences,
03:00you have recognised that young people are disproportionately victims of tragic incidents on our roads.
03:07It's time for action.
03:09Otherwise, more families will suffer the devastating loss of their loved ones.
03:13We want other young drivers to be aware.
03:17If you're going to be driving in such a manner that creates devastation,
03:23then you have to pay the price.
03:24I support the graduated driving licence but I also would like to see insurance companies putting black boxes in young drivers' cars when they first pass the test.
03:37I don't think there will ever be a resolution for us as a family.
03:40Harry will never come back and for him to plead guilty in the final hour, there's no getting away from what happened that day.
03:51He was the driver.
03:53He was the one that lost control.
03:56We put trust in Ed.
03:58You know, we spoke to Ed.
04:00We thought he would look after Tilly when he was driving and he chose not to.
04:06As a parent, we're going to have to live with that decision that we made.
04:11So I just hope any other parent out there hears this and supports graduated driving licences because it will support them in their decision making.