A teenager has been jailed after being found guilty of fatally hitting a pensioner with a sports car while on his way to his father’s motor valeting business.
Lewis Meadows was sentenced to four years in prison today at the Ipswich Crown Court after admitting to causing the death of 74-year-old Mary Kinsey.
He’s also disqualified from driving for seven years.
Mrs Kinsey was hit by a powerful sports car while walking to the local shops on Church Road in Felixstowe, Suffolk, on November 19 last year.
Meadows, who was 18 at the time, was driving a Nissan GTR – a sports car valued at £84k from a client of a detailing business he ran with his father.
He did not have permission to drive the car, which had been modified to make it ‘particularly powerful’ and was due to be valeted.
Witnesses watched the vehicle swerve onto the footpath and smash into Mrs Kinsey, who died at Ipswich Hospital.
Meadows initially entered an innocent plea but changed it to guilty on September 8 before his trial in January.
Lewis Meadows was sentenced to four years in prison today at the Ipswich Crown Court after admitting to causing the death of 74-year-old Mary Kinsey
Videos taken from Meadows’ phone revealed him driving in other cars , revving the engines, and shouting which was played in court.
Witnesses described Meadows driving like a ‘complete nutter’ while multiple clips showed him driving one-handed.
Mary’s husband, Ken Kinsey, read a heartbreaking statement in court, saying ‘I miss her terribly every day.
‘I come back to an empty house that used to feel like our home. I miss Mary’s happy, smiling face every day.’
In a letter to Judge Richard Kelly, Meadows acknowledged his actions that day.
His defence counsel, Matthew McNiff, read out his letter to the court, saying: ‘It’s all down to me. It’s all my fault. My choices, my stupidity. Call it what you will, but it’s down to me alone, Lewis Meadows.’
The letter continued: ‘I know I must be punished. I know this will change my life again, but that is right because I have changed the lives of so many people.
‘I disrespected Mrs Kinsey and other people. I should have thought so much more about other people.
‘I didn’t. I was selfish.’
Mary Kinsey’s husband Ken , read a heartbreaking statement in court, saying ‘I miss her terribly every day. ‘I come back to an empty house that used to feel like our home. I miss Mary’s happy, smiling face every day’
Judge Richard Kelly described Meadows driving of the powerful vehicle ‘like a toy’.
He said: ‘You were deliberately trying to push this very powerful car’s capabilities and you were doing that, of all places, in a residential street.’
He went on to acknowledge Meadows’ remorse shown in his letter as ‘tangible’.
He also said the behaviour from his parents was “measured” and “realistic”, with neither seeking to justify Meadows’ behaviour.
Meadows will be eligible for release after serving half of his sentence, but the remainder of his time in prison will come with conditions.