Our daughters went out to buy a bottle of coke but never came back and now there is a deep piercing pain in our hearts

The parents of two sisters killed by an Audi driver speeding at more than 100mph as they went to buy a bottle of coke for a graduation party have told a court how their lives have been broken forever and . Thomas Lenthall, 40, has been jailed for 10 years at Bristol Crown Court[1] on Thursday (December 14) after pleading guilty to two counts of causing death by dangerous driving. He was driving his Audi RS6 along the A361 Frome bypass, in Frome, Somerset, when he careered into Madison and Liberty North’s VW Polo.

In a powerful personal statement to the court parents Verity and Jason North said the crash happened on the day before Maddie’s graduation as a teacher – her childhood dream. The statement was released by Avon and Somerset Police with the support of the family.

Maddie and Libbie, aged 21 and 17, died at the scene of the crash and their parents drove to the scene after tracking the girls’ phones on a location app.

When a police officer at the scene realised who they were, he had to break the news that they had both died in the high-speed crash. Their parents said in the impact statement: “”Tuesday 25 July was the day before our daughter Maddie’s graduation. She, her sister Libby, and the whole family were so excited and proud.

She was graduating as a teacher, achieving her childhood dream. “Family were invited, the party was arranged, everything felt perfect. The evening of the 25th, Maddie and Libby popped out for a Coke, and they never came home.

“It is every parent’s worst nightmare, their lives were taken. Our innocent, precious daughters, at such young ages, were just beginning to live their best lives and fulfil their dreams. “In a heartbeat, everything changed.

They had been killed by the reckless dangerous driving of another. “We and our family and our daughters’ friends are devastated and still in disbelief of this cruel tragedy and what the new reality is in our lives without them.” They also talked about the awful night when they realised that both their daughters had been killed.

The statement continued: “That night, the horror of seeing our daughter’s faces on the location app stationary at the scene of the accident, driving to the scene and pulling up beside the police officer asking if he could help me.

“He tried to divert me [not realising we were family], but I said I needed his help. I told him my daughters were showing that they were along the stretch of road. “He asked my name, and once he heard it, his face changed only to be told my daughters were involved and it was fatal.

“I remember thinking ‘what did I just hear?’ “How do you comprehend those words? Our world fell apart in that instance as the police drove me home to break this tragic news that has literally broken our hearts.

Everything we lived for, our beautiful daughters, was gone. “Calling a close family member in the middle of the night for help and assistance, in shock and disbelief. Our world was in pieces.

“Making phone calls to family members close by and overseas, the screams of shock and tears we will never forget. Our girls gone. The most vibrant, fun-loving, beautiful girls… taken.”

The family now have to live with what happened that night, and their parents went on to discuss the “numbness” they were feeling. “The emotional impact this has had on the family is beyond words. We still have no words, we remain in disbelief since that very day,” the statement continued. “Our children, our teenagers, our young women.

Gone. “Ask me how I feel, ‘I feel numb’. Ask Maddie and Libby’s cousins how they feel, they are ‘heartbroken and numb’.

The same for aunties and uncles – ‘heartache and pain’. Maddie and Libby’s friends are also heartbroken. “The sleepless nights, pain and losing our world and the people we were before this tragic night.

Going over and over what happened. Being unable to carry out day-to-day tasks, being unable to even think about returning to the jobs we once loved. “Getting out of bed is painful, having to live this nightmare over and over again every day… our futures have been destroyed.

Audi driver Thomas Lenthall, 40, and of no fixed address, has been jailed for 10 years after killing sisters Maddie and Libby North (Image: Avon and Somerset Police)

“He has robbed us of seeing Maddie as a teacher and Libby as a nursery teacher.

They loved their jobs very much. “[Lenthall] has stolen the chances we would see them marry and see them as mothers – making us proud grandparents which they both wanted very much. Gone.

“Cousins bereft and heartbroken from the closeness they had, the fun, the laughter shared over 21 and 17 years of growing up together. They were both loved so much. All gone.

“As parents, you live and breathe for your children, you work hard to give them your best. Our home was a happy home, always full of music, laughter and mischief. Gone.

“Our home is so painfully quiet now, our family home has changed forever. Our lives ripped to shreds. “Since the moment we heard the news of our girls, there is a deep piercing pain our hearts.

Waking in the middle of the night, feeling guilty we couldn’t protect them both. “Wishing they would burst through the door and jump on the bed. Hearing their phones constantly beeping, their laughter, their voices and hearing ‘mum and dad’.

“We just want it to be just as it was. We go through a plethora of emotions daily – anger, frustration, sadness, heartache and pain. Some days it is just too hard to bear – hoping you are not missing us as much as we are missing you.

“Never, ever did we think we would have to plan funerals for our girls in our lifetime. How we did that and got through the day, I will never know. “The tears, sobs, wails, and heartbreak of that day, I can still hear as clear as day today.

“From the dangerous, reckless, irresponsible, stupid actions of another forced us to have this reality, one that will never heal. One we will never get over. “Our hearts are broken forever.

This tragedy has taken the privilege of being Maddie and Libby’s mum and dad away. “The pain cannot be explained, only felt. All we lived for, gone, as our family and everyone who knew and loved them do our best each day to exist without our beloved girls.

“We now do not know what our future looks like, nor how we move on from what has happened. “We want justice for our girls and hope that is given fairly and in deep reflection and compassion of what losing our precious girls has done to us and our family.” Sentencing, His Honour Judge James Patrick said the world of the North family had fallen apart at their desperate loss.

He ordered that Lenthall should serve a minimum two-thirds of his sentence, and disqualified him from driving for seven years. Lead investigator from the Collision Investigation Unit, Carl Derosa, said: “This is a tragic case where two young ladies, with their whole lives ahead of them, were cruelly taken too soon from their parents and family. “The reckless actions of one man has left two parents without their children and a hole in their lives which no sentence will be able to fill.

I can only hope this sentence will go some way to providing justice for Maddie and Libby’s family.”

References

1. ^ Bristol Crown Court (www.bristolpost.co.uk)
2. ^ Drug dealer crashes e-bike into off duty police officer’s van while carrying class A drugs (www.walesonline.co.uk)
3. ^ Gym users fled screaming as explosion blew radiators off the walls and rubble rained down on car park (www.walesonline.co.uk)