A driver who was high on drugs and drunk when he hit a cyclist at 60mph has been jailed for eight years.
Vicky Myres, 24, was on a bike ride with her boyfriend’s mother when she was hit from behind by Ajay Singh, 26 in August this year.
She broke her neck in the collision and was pronounced dead in hospital. She was later found to have suffered 66 injuries.
As we reported at the time, the driver hit her with such force that his VW Polo threw her 57 metres through the air on Stockport Road in Timperley, south Manchester.
Her last words were: “Gosh, that car is going fast.”
Singh failed to stop at the scene although his windscreen was shattered so badly he couldn’t see through it.
Cocaine and cannabis were later found in his blood and he told police he had taken spice and ketamine.
He had a bottle of wine with him in the car.
Singh admitted causing death by dangerous driving, failing to stop and failing to report an accident at an earlier hearing.
He was jailed for eight years and banned from the road for 10 years.
According to the Guardian, Sarah Crosby, the mother of Vicky’s boyfriend James, told the court in a victim impact statement: “Vicky was lying there. I knew immediately she was dead. I had to tell James Vicky had died.
“He held his head in his hands and shouted, ‘No! No! No!’ And I saw the pain and anguish overcome him. To hear your grownup son sobbing is utterly heartbreaking.”
Nick Myres, Vicky’s father, told the court in a statement: “She was kind, loving, caring, adventurous, determined and fun. I feel older and sadder every day. I have my memories but will never have any new ones. I’m trying not to let hate and anger take over.”
Jailing him for eight years, Judge John Potter, told him: “The strong inference from the evidence is that I’m sure from the driving at the time you must have been significantly impaired by both alcohol and drugs.
“When she died Vicky Myres was just 24 years of age. She was a good, bright, intelligent, enthusiastic person who had the world at her feet. The hurt felt by her family is raw and immediate.”
After an unpromising start, having to be bribed by her parents to learn to ride without stabilisers, Sarah became rather keener on cycling in her university years, and was eventually persuaded to upgrade to proper road cycling by the prospect of a shiny red Italian bike, which she promptly destroyed by trapping a pair of knickers in the rear derailleur. Sarah writes about about cycling every weekend on road.cc.