Mum of baby thrown 50m from car by 140mph killer drunk driver calls for lifetime bans
The mum of a baby killed after being flung 50 metres from a car by a drunk killer driver[1] has called lifetime driving bans for those who kill.
Shalorna Warner was forced to search for her eight-month-old son Zack Blades[2] on the A1 carriageway after the car she was travelling in with sister Karlene was hit by Darryl Anderson, who clocked speeds of up to 141mph. Zack, and his aunt Karlene, 26, were both killed instantly in the smash on the motorway in County Durham in the early hours of May 31.
Anderson was jailed for 17 years at Durham Crown Court last week, as a judge told him he had played “Russian roulette” with the lives of every man, woman and child on the motorway. The 38-year-old had been travelling home from Newcastle Airport after downing booze on the plane, and was three times over the legal limit[3] at the time.
Darryl Anderson admitted two counts of death by dangerous driving at Durham Crown Court (
DURHAM CONSTABULARY)
A chilling photograph taken by Anderson seconds before impact showed the speedometer on his dashboard, indicating he was about to crash. He later made audacious claims to officers at the scene that his car was being driven by a hitchhiker[4] at the time.
Now mum Shalorna, who gave a harrowing account of the night she lost her son and sister, has demanded lifetime driving bans for anyone convicted of causing a fatal collision. In a petition[5] launched to call for lifetime bans, she wrote: “On the 31st May 2024, my world[6] was shattered. I was travelling home with my 8-month-old baby, Zackary, who was securely fastened in his ISOFIX car seat and my sister, Karlene[7], also wearing her seatbelt.
“A car, speeding at 141mph, driving a shocking three times over the drink-drive limit, ploughed into the back of us. The driver was also using his mobile phone, snapping a photo moments before the fatal collision[8] with my car clearly visible in the photo and amber light flashing on his dashboard indication immediate collision. My sister was killed instantly, and my son was propelled 50 meters away from our car, he too, killed on impact.”
Baby Zack was hurled from the car on impact, and died instantly (
Durham Police)
Karlene, also a mum, was killed in the crash, leaving behind a daughter (
Durham Police)
As well as his jail time, Anderson was handed a 21-year ban in court[9] on Tuesday. Shalorna said the ban meant Anderson will have only 10 years before he can get back behind the wheel after serving the required 11 years of his sentence.
The mum added: “This is not justice — not when my loved ones’ lives have been so cruelly snatched away. Why should he ever be allowed to drive again, with previous drink driving ban record? Why should anyone charged with death by dangerous driving[10] be allowed to drive again?”
Figures from road safety[11] charity Brake reveal 1,766 people are killed each year on Britain’s roads at the hand of dangerous drivers. Shalorna said it was time for the law to “reflect the magnitude of these crimes”.
Brave Shalorna gave a gut-wrenching account as she faced Anderson in court, telling of the moment a lorry driver screamed as he helped her look for her baby[12]. “I jumped over to find my baby lying on the edge of the grass of the motorway. I knew instantly. I had to pick my dead baby up from the side of the road,” she said.
Shalorna, pictured in blue outside court, has called for lifetime driving bans for killer drivers like Anderson (
Andy Commins / Daily Mirror)
“I hugged him so tight, a hug I will never forget[13]. No words will surmount the irreparable hole that has been left in my heart and in my life.” She added she would “never live a normal life again” and was now a “broken childless mother”.
Addressing Judge Joanne Kidd directly she added: “Your Honour, I stand before you today a broken shell of a woman and a childless mother. But this guilt is not mine to bear – this guilt is owed to the person that caused this infinite agony. I hope the pain of this weighs them down for all eternity. Nothing will bring my son and my sister back to me. The only way forward for myself is if the defendant faces the same sentence[14] I am facing – life. The irony of it all is that I will never see my loved ones again, but he will.”
Anderson, from South Yorkshire, was sentenced to 17 years and three months.
References
- ^ drunk killer driver (www.mirror.co.uk)
- ^ search for her eight-month-old son Zack Blades (www.mirror.co.uk)
- ^ three times over the legal limit (www.mirror.co.uk)
- ^ driven by a hitchhiker (www.mirror.co.uk)
- ^ petition (www.change.org)
- ^ world (www.mirror.co.uk)
- ^ my sister, Karlene (www.mirror.co.uk)
- ^ snapping a photo moments before the fatal collision (www.mirror.co.uk)
- ^ court (www.mirror.co.uk)
- ^ dangerous driving (www.mirror.co.uk)
- ^ road safety (www.mirror.co.uk)
- ^ screamed as he helped her look for her baby (www.mirror.co.uk)
- ^ a hug I will never forget (www.mirror.co.uk)
- ^ faces the same sentence (www.mirror.co.uk)