Families share victim impact statements as Edward Spencer is jailed after court hears he lied to police and had history of bad and dangerous driving
Powerful testimony and evidence was heard at Warwick Crown Court today (Monday) ahead of Judge Andrew Lockhart sentencing Edward Spencer to 24 months detention and an eight-year driving ban for the death of three fellow students at Chipping Campden and the serious injury of a stepmum and her two children.
Despite Spencer, 19, claiming to police in June 2023 to be a careful driver who would not have been speeding at the time of the crash, the court heard that evidence included disturbing and indisputable material that showed a history of bad driving and showing off prior to the tragedy on 21st April.
A dozen clips seen by the judge were described in court - and included film of Spencer laughing and reversing at speed saying he was going to crash; another showed him driving at speed with one hand; and a third showed a passenger urging him to slow down before he retorts ‘you want to get there don’t you’.
The 12 pieces of footage and/or social media posts were captured in the five weeks since Spencer passed his driving test in March 2023 and the fatal crash on 21st April.
The judge said the evidence showed that he was a habitual bad driver with a cavalier attitude towards driving and a scant regard for the safety of others.
CCTV from a location in Paxford shortly before the crash showed he was going at 57mph in a 40mph. At the time of the crash a forensic expert estimated he was driving at 64mph and had over-steered after losing control.
The judge recognised that whilst the speed of the road was the national speed limit (60mph) this was a speed limit and not a target and is a very long way from the speed that is safe. The judge listed the multiple road signs - including Z-bed warnings and chevrons - on the stretch of road as indicati
Some of the details of the crash and the injuries suffered by the victims was hard to listen to.
Graphic accounts of the surviving children’s ongoing injuries were read out by their mother - including permanent facial and bodily disfigurement and ongoing surgery. Aged ten and 12 when the crash happened, they remain deeply traumatised and still facing ongoing medical care and surgeries, as does their stepmother - who also read out an impact statement in court.
Harry’s mother Toni Purcell, Tilly’s mother Juliet Seccombe and Frank’s father David Wormald read heartfelt and harrowing accounts of their lives since the loss of their precious children.
Excerpts from some are included below.
Statement from Tilly Seccombe's mother, Juliet Seccombe:
There are no winners here today – only losers. We have lost our beautiful daughter who had a zest for life and had her future mapped out before her. A life that I know would have achieved great things.
Edward Spencer took away that life due to his reckless behaviour putting his own ego before the safety of himself, his passengers and other road users. No sentence will bring back our daughter and we take little comfort in the punishment of someone else’s son. However, we hope that Edward Spencer can at last reflect on his actions and finally accept responsibility for the devastation he has caused and learns to atone.
We would like to thank all the emergency services who attended the scene, the hospital staff and the police investigation team. All of which have shown us incredible kindness and support.
Even though the numbers of young drivers have dropped significantly since 2010, In 2023 they caused 4959 deaths and serious injury on the roads. That is over 95 per week. This number has increased by 11% from the year before according to government data, and these collisions are almost never an accident – They are nearly always preventable, and it’s due to young drivers using or holding mobile phones, inappropriate speed or speeding on rural roads, risk taking and showing off, as well as drug abuse all of which when you combine this with inexperience is a recipe for disaster.
The saddest part about it is, that it’s generally innocent bystanders or other road users who are killed or suffer life changing injuries – Not the irresponsible driver!
I now want to say this to the Government. Whilst you are not considering Graduated Driving Licences, you have recognised that young people are disproportionately victims of tragic incidents on our roads. You have been exploring options to tackle the root causes of this for decades – It’s time for action – Not procrastination! Otherwise, more families will suffer the devastating loss of their loved ones.
Statement from Harry Purcell's mum, Toni Purcell:
Words don’t come easy to try to explain the pain of losing your child. It’s an indescribable pain felt every minute of every day. A never-ending nightmare, now a lifetime of sadness.
We had loved every minute of watching Harry grow into such a kind, loving and so very funny young man. Now we can only imagine what his future would have been.
He had always wanted Chelsea season tickets. For years we’d tried to get them for him but couldn’t, however last year Chelsea contacted us to say that they had some available. Sadly Harry will never get to enjoy them.
Not only has Harry been taken from us, he’s been taken from his sister and his twin brother.
We’ll never get the chance to say, I love you, again. We’ll never get the chance to laugh with him.
Every birthday, every holiday, every milestone so painful that Harry won’t be there with us. The guilt we carry that we’re still here and Harry’s life taken.
Our hearts are broken beyond repair. We now only have memories that we’ll hold tight forever.
Let’s not forget the police, paramedics, firefighters. What they witnessed that day, what they witness every day. We’d like to thank each and every one of them.
For the last two years, we have heard so many rumours, opinions and untruths circulating about what happened. This has been incredibly difficult to hear and we’re now glad that the truth will finally be heard.
Edward Spencer was speeding when he killed our son. Our family and so many other families will forever be impacted by his actions that day.
Harry’s death was completely avoidable.
It has taken almost two years for him to plead guilty and two years of us attending several court hearings. Each so hard to bare and each time learning of his not guilty pleas. Edward and his family have shown no empathy or remorse towards us.
Edward Spencer’s sentence will pale into insignificance compared to the sentence he has given our family.
We will never forgive him.
Anonymous statement from stepmother who was the driver of second vehicle:
Firstly, I would like to express my deepest condolences to all of the other families involved. I don’t have the words to express how sorry I am that this has happened. If I could have done anything to stop this, I truly would. If I could go back and give my life to save theirs, to save the suffering my children felt, I would, without hesitation.
Both my children and I are still suffering from the consequences of this crash; there have been countless hospital appointments, operations, therapies. Nothing can undo the trauma that we have all been through; there is still pain, nightmares, flashbacks. I wake in the night from nightmares, picturing the poor children in the other car who didn’t survive. I have flashbacks to being in the car with my children, the intense fear I felt but had to hide for their sake. I see my own children dead in the back seats of my car.
This collision has given me permanent scars, both physically and mentally. I should feel lucky for surviving, but I feel the furthest thing from lucky. The lucky ones are the people who go their whole lives without this trauma - this is not lucky; this is the thing of nightmares.
Edward, had you been sorry for your actions, had you said sorry, had you asked for forgiveness, you would have got it. You did not do this. You showed yourself to be cocky and indifferent, taking almost two years to take responsibility for your actions. You showed everyone that you do not care about the innocent lives you have taken. You do not care that you nearly killed two innocent children. You have not shown any remorse, any regret, any guilt. That is unforgiveable.
This crash, like so many others, was wholly preventable. Graduated driving licenses have been proven to reduce incidents of this kind. Every time I see another crash like this in the news, it breaks my heart, yet still nothing is done to prevent these young lives from being lost.
