Grieving mother vows to fight for justice for her son after 'insulting sentence" for driver who killed him

The mother of a 13-year-old boy who was killed by a speeding and uninsured driver has vowed to “get justice for her son” and has launched a petition for the driver’s sentence to be debated in Parliament.

Kayn Galer was seen "flying along" the 30mph Silverstone Road in Washington, before he hit Gregg McGuire, who was cycling to a sleepover on August 14 last year.

Newcastle Crown Court heard the 13-year-old suffered catastrophic head injuries, including skull fractures, and died in hospital two days later.

The Court heard how Galer, of Pinewood Avenue in Harraton, “was travelling at around 46mph and increasing” although he braked before he hit Gregg but was still going at between 20-29mph on impact.

After the impact, Galer, who was also uninsured, drove away with a shattered windscreen that left him with virtually "zero" visibility, at up to 56mph and on the wrong side of the road for a time, although he did return to the scene “minutes later”.

After Galer was sentenced to nine months in a young offenders institution, Gregg’s mother, Alison Rudkin, slammed the sentence as “an insult to Gregg and an insult to the value of a child’s life”.

Alison, 36, is now looking to appeal the sentence and “won’t rest until justice is done”.

She said: “This driver has been let off lightly. He could be out on licence in four-and-a-half months - in time for Christmas and his 21st birthday. 

“The judge spoke about how a prison sentence could have a detrimental impact on this person’s future, but Gregg’s future has been taken away - he is not going to see any of his milestones.

“Gregg isn’t here to fight for justice and so I need to fight for him.”

Alison has already written to the attorney general asking for the sentence to be reviewed.

She added: “I want to appeal this sentence and I want it reviewed by another judge. This sentence needs to be higher and I’m not going to rest until it is.”

However, Alison has been told by the Crown Prosecution Service that because Galer was convicted of careless driving and not dangerous driving then under current legislation she can’t appeal the sentence.

Alison said: “There must be a way I can appeal this decision. I recently read about a man being sentenced to 10 months in prison for assaulting someone on a bus yet this driver has been given a lower sentence after causing Gregg’s death - how can that be right?

“If this is the law then I am going to fight for the law to be changed. The law needs to be there to protect children like Gregg, not the offender.

“These tragic incidents will continue to happen unless justice is seen to be done.”

It’s a sentiment shared by Alison’s partner and Gregg’s step-dad, Daniel Dunbar.

Daniel, 36, added: “A car is a potential lethal weapon and no one is going to learn any lessons with this sentence - it’s a slap on the wrist.

“It sends out the wrong message that you can pass your test at a young age, use the roads like a race track and get a few months in prison if you kill someone through your driving.

“An example needs to be made and harsher sentences given out to deter other people.”

In a bid to get Galer’s sentence reviewed, along with looking to change the law to enable harsher sentences to be administered, the family have applied to set up a Parliamentary petition.

If the online petition gets 10,000 signatures then the Government have to provide an official response while 100,000 signatures means it must be considered for debate in Parliament.

The petition statement reads: “We feel the sentence passed does not reflect the crime committed that day. We feel justice was not served and serves as no warning to other road users going forward and potentially no lessons to be learned.”

Alison has also contacted Washington and Sunderland West MP Sharon Hodgson who has vowed to raise the sentence with the Justice Secretary and in Parliament.

She said: When I heard the sentence last week, like most right minded people I was flabbergasted at the leniency of the sentence and planned to contact the family to discuss what they wanted to do about it. 

“Hence, when Alison made contact with my office on Monday morning I immediately agreed to meet as soon as possible to discuss how we can best raise this with the Justice Secretary and in Parliament after recess. 

“Whilst I appreciate Parliament and the Judiciary are separate, and the Justice Secretary will no doubt make that point, I feel there is something very wrong with our sentencing guidelines if the maximum the judge was able to hand out to the guilty man was a nine month sentence which as we know he will probably only serve half. 

“The judge even said as much in his closing statement. In my opinion death by careless driving along with driving without insurance as well as leaving the scene of an accident involving a fatality should attract a much harsher sentence and I imagine most people would agree. 

“So I plan to write to the Justice Secretary this week to bring all this to his attention and I'm tabling a question for the next Justice questions which is on September 12 to ask him for an urgent meeting with the family to discuss it.”

Alison added: “We should have been able to come away from court last week and be able to grieve yet we are still having to fight for justice to be done.”