The heartbroken parents of a 17-year-old girl who died after a driver lost control of his hot hatch at 100mph told how they arrived first on the scene and tried to resuscitate their child.
‘Intoxicated’ Jack Burkhill, 21, lost control of the Hyundai i30 N car on the bend of a country road while ‘showing off’. A court heard the crash happened after Burkhill had left a pub where he had been drinking.
Trainee financial adviser Felicity Pacey, 17, one of three passengers in the car, died at the scene of the crash near the Lincolnshire village of Denton – a few miles from Belvoir Castle, the Duke of Rutland’s ancestral home.
Felicity’s parents were the first to arrive on the scene after her sister Rhiannah – who was Burkhill’s girlfriend at the time and was also in the car – called them following the crash.
Addressing Burkhill in court, the grief-striken sibling told him: ‘If only I had never met you.’
The heartbroken parents of 17-year-old Felicity Pacey (pictured) who died after a driver lost control at 100mph told how they tried to resuscitate her child after arriving first at the scene
‘Intoxicated’ Jack Burkhill, 21, lost control of the Hyundai i30 N car on the bend of a country road while ‘showing off’
The scene near the Lincolnshire village of Denton where Burkhill lost control of his new car, less than two miles from the pub where he had been drinking that day
Burkhill was sentenced to eight years and three months in prison on Friday and was disqualified him from driving for over nine years.
In a victim impact statement read to the court, Helen Pacey, Felicity’s mother, said: ‘Felicity, Fliss, our beautiful, intelligent, confident, thoughtful and caring girl who had her life panned out.
‘My heart has been ripped out of my chest, stamped on, and put back in.
‘I suffer with panic attacks when I think of Felicity not coming home.’
She added: ‘We were first on the scene and had to start CPR on our child. No parent should ever have to do that.
‘Seeing my baby girl lying on that verge, that lifeless body. I replay it every time I pass that scene.’
Mrs Pacey told Burkhill: ‘The last words I said to her were, “Have fun”, and she said, “We will”. Those words will haunt me to eternity.
‘You killed our precious girl. You ran from the scene like the coward you are and left us to deal with the consequences.
‘The pain you have caused is impossible to put into words. I never thought it possible to shed tears every day. Simple tasks like shopping are daunting. When I go alone I scream in the car and my tears are uncontrollable.’
Felicity was the youngest of three siblings.
The court heard Burkhill’s dangerous driving caused the car, which goes from 0-62mph in 5.2 seconds and costs £35,165, to roll on the rural road which had a 60mph speed limit.
Felicity was thrown from the vehicle.
Felicity’s mother told Burkhill in court: ‘The last words I said to her were, “Have fun”, and she said, ‘We will’. Those words will haunt me to eternity’
Judge Simon Hirst said: ‘It is very clear indeed that Fliss (pictured) was an incredibly loved young woman who had the brightest of bright futures in front of her’
Burkhill had passed his driving test 21 months before the collision but had owned the car for less than three weeks.
Burkhill, Felicity and two others had left a pub in Woolsthorpe by Belvoir, near Grantham.
Burkhill had been drinking in the pub, as well as during the day, when he got behind the wheel of his car – then drove less than two miles before losing control on the outskirts of Denton village.
From witness evidence it is believed he had been driving in excess of 100mph as he drove down the country road. He drove over a humped bridge too fast and lost control of his vehicle on the approach to a right-hand bend.
Prosecutor David Webster said Burkhill was ‘intoxicated to an extent that impaired his ability to drive safely’.
While it was not possible to determine the exact levels of alcohol in his system at the time of the collision, Lincoln Crown Court heard alcohol would have impaired Burkhill’s ability to drive safely on a public road.
The court was told how Burkhill was anxious to show off his high-performance vehicle which he had only had for a couple of weeks.
Fliss’ father, Jonathan, performed CPR on his daughter when he arrived at the scene, which he described as ‘the worst thing’ he’d ever had to do.
Mr Pacey told the court: ‘Felicity was our baby girl, the glue that held our family together.
‘When she was little, I called her my teddy bear.’
He added: ‘Wherever we went we would put music on and sing together in the car.
‘At work I struggle when I’m alone and at night when I’m trying to sleep. I shouldn’t have to outlive my baby girl, it’s not fair.
‘Jack has left us broken. I trusted him with our daughters. He has showed no remorse.’
Burkhill, of Grantham, Lincolnshire, admitted causing Felicity’s death by dangerous driving at a hearing on April 25.
He has now been sentenced to eight years and three months in prison, along with being disqualified from driving for nine years and 45 days.
Judge Simon Hirst said: ‘It is very clear indeed that Fliss was an incredibly loved young woman who had the brightest of bright futures in front of her.’
