Sian Morgan is continuing her campaign for tougher sentences for dangerous drivers after her 15-year-old daughter Keely was killed while crossing a road in Cardiff in May 2023. Keely had spent the day with her family on Barry Island before telling her mum she was going for a walk. When she was late home, her mother grew worried.
A police officer arrived at their home and told Sian that Keely had been hit by a car and had died. Neighbours who heard the bang found the driver emotional and admitting he had hit her. Keely was lying on the side of the road with significant injuries to her head and face, and people tried to save her life, but to no avail.
Driver's Sentence and Background
The driver, Christopher West of Nottage Road, Ely, Cardiff, was driving without a black box connected in his car as it should have been. He was sentenced for causing death by careless driving and causing death while driving uninsured. West was sentenced to 16 months imprisonment, disqualified from driving for two years and eight months, and required to retake his test.
As he was sentenced, there were cries from the public gallery, and Keely's mum left the court dismayed at the length of the sentence. Sian has since launched a petition, already with 11,000 signatures, calling for stricter sentences for careless drivers. Her demands include automatic licence revocation following serious traffic incidents, longer prison terms for drivers who cause death or serious injury through carelessness, mandatory reassessment and vetting before any return to driving, and a review of current sentencing guidelines for repeat traffic offenders.
Westminster Debate on Sentencing
Cardiff West Labour MP Alex Barros-Curtis held a debate in Westminster where Keely's case was discussed at length. He called for sentencing guidelines and driving disqualifications to be reviewed. "Where a driver has demonstrated that they cannot be trusted to drive safely, there should be a robust process for assessing their fitness to return to the road," he said.
"Keely should have been able to cross that road safely and return home. She was so much more than the circumstances of her death. She was a daughter, a sister and a young girl with her whole life ahead of her. Her family should be able to remember her for who she was, rather than having to fight to ensure that no other family has to suffer the same indignity."
Jake Richards, a minister in the Ministry of Justice, responded to the debate. He said automatic disqualification "is part of live discussions" being had within government. "It strikes me - I am very happy to put this on the record - that I have come across too many cases where driving disqualification is not taken seriously as part of the punishment," he said.
"Often, a ban runs concurrently with a prison sentence, so there is the absurd situation that someone obviously cannot drive while they are in prison, and then they get out and they have never had any disqualification from driving at all." He said he had raised the matter with the chair of the Sentencing Council, while the Department for Transport is also looking at the issue. He also said that graduated driving licences is "on the agenda".
Mother's Hope for Change
Sian said the debate and a private meeting with the minister made her hopeful change would come. She told the government minister that sentencing around careless driving needs to be made tougher, as has happened in death by dangerous driving cases. She believes Keely's case was charged at the lesser level of careless driving when it should have been charged as causing death by dangerous driving because of gaps in the guidance that the CPS and judges can use.
"There were so many factors where it [Keely's case] should have fallen under death by dangerous driving, but they were just overridden," she said. If the law is changed as a result of her campaigning, she said it will be "bittersweet". "No one should ever be in this position, but I've got to try and take some positives and turn it into a positive for other families. They failed our family. Without a doubt of it, the justice system has failed my daughter, me, and my family."
Sian said a number of families were united in their grief from similar incidents all over the UK. "Keely's story is a tragedy to us, but it's a tragedy to all the families that have had to go through this," she said. "We're one family and hopefully we can come together now."
