Mum haunted by Kidderminster daughter’s death as Shawbury driver jailed

A mother has told a court she will be always be “haunted” by her teenage daughter’s death as her boyfriend was jailed for five and a half years for causing the death in a crash.

Lily-May Vaughan, 17, from Kidderminster, was the passenger in a car driven by Logan Addison, 20, when it came off the road near Shawbury Heath in Shropshire on 4 February 2023.

In passing sentence at Shrewsbury Crown Court, Judge Deni Matthews said: “The people of this county need protection [from Addison]”.

Earlier Ms Vaughan’s mother, Leanne Vaughan, told the court: “My whole world fell apart. It felt as if the ground beneath me vanished. I collapsed, the weight of it all crushing me.”

During the trial, the court heard Lily-May died at the scene of the crash after the car driven by Addison, who was 17 at the time, hit an electricity pole and flipped on to its roof.

One eye witness said she had seen his car pass in a “flash of a blur” and an investigator at the scene after the crash said she believed he had been travelling at more than the 60mph (96kph) speed limit on the country lane.

Addressing him on Friday after he was previously found guilty of causing death by dangerous driving, Judge Matthews said: “No-one can truly know how fast you were going but you were in excess of the speed limit.”

Leanne Vaughan said: “I am heartbroken that Mr Addison had so little respect for my daughter that he drove dangerously.”

In her statement to the court, she added that her daughter was “a remarkable young lady who was so full of life, positive energy and happiness”.

She said when she received the news about the crash “”I screamed – a wild, frantic animal cry – for an hour” and Lily-May’s death had “quite simply ruined” her life.

“I will always be haunted by the fact that I was not there to hold Lily while she passed,” she said.

The primary school teacher added: “I have retreated from society, struggling to connect with the world outside.”

Leanne Vaughan’s sister, Janine Newton, told the court: “I remember the fourth of February like it was yesterday.”

“I could hear Leanne sobbing and screaming.

“It wasn’t a normal cry, it was something I’d never heard before and it haunts me to this day.”

Leticia Evans, Lily-May’s friend, said she was “the funniest, most entertaining person you’d ever meet”.

“The thought that someone could do something to our best friend doesn’t feel real,” she added.

After the trial, it emerged from police that in the 13 months following the fatal crash, until Addison was arrested for it, he was prosecuted for several other driving offences.

They included driving without due care and attention, driving without insurance and using a motor vehicle in a dangerous condition.

In April 2023 he was disqualified from driving and, less than a month later, he was caught driving while disqualified and magistrates gave him an eight-week suspended sentence, West Mercia Police said.

“He paid no regard to the fact that he’d be involved in a fatal collision and Lily-May had lost her life and he continued to drive dangerously,” Ch Insp Julian Smith added.

Ms Vaughan spoke of the audacity of his later offending and said it was “utterly disrespectful that Mr Addison has shown no remorse”.

Lily-May’s friend, Ms Evans, said she had been “terrified” when she was in the car with him and added: “He doesn’t care that he killed his girlfriend.”

Addison, of Hazels Road in Shawbury, was also banned from driving for eight years, to start after his release from prison.

Mrs Vaughan told the BBC her daughter had been “her whole world” but there had been nothing she could do to protect her.

She said she hoped other parents would hear the story and feel “empowered” to warn their children about getting into a car with an inexperienced driver.

“It’s been my mission to make parents have that conversation,” she said, while adding she also wanted to educate young people.

“Let’s empower them, let’s share these statistics with them. I want them to learn from Lily, do it for Lily and just say no,” she added.

“If you know that your friend’s only just passed their test, don’t get in the car with them.”