Well, Not Quite, Surely?

David Eager, defending, said Hayter had been left full of remorse.

‘He accepts he was solely responsible for Kayleigh’s death. That will lie heavily on his conscience for the rest of his life.’

There is no doubt that he was the one driving like a maniac after a seven-hour drinking session, and was twice the drink drive limit when he crashed, yes.

But…was he solely responsible? If only the child had had a parent to ...

Oh!

Kayleigh, who had already posted a message on Facebook saying ‘I think I'm going to die’, was told by her father Scott Lawrie not to be so stupid.

…

 Mr Scott said ‘While the defendant paid for his petrol the boy and Kayleigh told Scott Lawrie they wanted to get out of the car because they were so frightened. Scott Lawrie told them not to be so stupid.

This was after Hayter had twice almost careered off the road, and forced an oncoming pick-up onto the verge when he took a bend on the wrong side of the road.

I wonder if Scott Lawrie had cause to regret those words when they then called at a filling station, Hayter clipped the central pump island before reversing back and almost hitting another vehicle, and then tried to fill up with diesel instead of petrol before accelerating away with such speed the wheels spun?

It seems to me Scott Lawrie should have a lot on his conscience too, always assuming he has one.