Teen who fatally hit woman with sports car jailed

Lewis Meadows was jailed for four years and banned from driving for seven years

A teenager who fatally hit a woman while driving a sports car has been jailed for four years.

Mary Kinsey, 74, from Felixstowe, Suffolk, died in November 2024 following a collision on Church Road in the town.

Lewis Meadows, 19, of Cliff Road, Felixstowe, previously denied causing death by dangerous driving, but changed his plea to guilty in September.

During his sentencing, Ipswich Crown Court heard how Meadows enjoyed pushing the capability of cars, but had lost control of the vehicle before he killed Mrs Kinsey.

On the day of the crash, Meadows, who was 18 at the time, and his father had gone to a property to collect a Nissan GTR as part of their car valeting business.

The court heard that Meadows did not have car insurance and so his father drove, taking the car to a premises on Cliff Road.

But Meadows later drove it on to a public road and was seen by witnesses driving at speed along Church Road, swerving other vehicles.

One witness described his driving as "irrational" and like a "complete nutter", before the Nissan GTR braked harshly and left the road and hit Mrs Kinsey.

Mary Kinsey died after she was hit by a car being driven by Lewis Meadows in November 2024

After the crash Meadows got out of the vehicle, seeing Mrs Kinsey lying unconscious in her front garden.

He was heard claiming a dog had run on the road, which was not the case, before he left the scene and went home.

Police arrested him later that day and he told officers while he was the driver, he was "going around 30-35mph when I lost control of the car".

Videos were shown to the court of Meadows driving other vehicles on separate occasions.

The prosecution told the court it was "clear he enjoyed testing the capabilities of the vehicles" and it was believed on the day Mrs Kinsey was killed, Meadows had again tried to test the car's capabilities, but revved too hard and lost control.

The court also heard he had previous motoring offences and had just recently got his licence back at the time of the crash.

In mitigation, the court heard Meadows had shown remorse and, in a letter that was read to the court, he said "he must be punished".

The judge was also asked to consider his age and immaturity.

In a victim impact statement read to the court, Mrs Kinsey's husband Ken, who she was married to for 54 years, said his life had been "totally altered" since her death.

Her sons, Jonathan and Mark, said they had both suffered after the loss of their mother and were "disgusted" that Meadows had left her alone after hitting her.

In his sentencing remarks, Judge Richard Kelly said Meadows had driven the Nissan GTR "like a toy" and also gave him a seven-year driving ban.

The crash happened on Church Road in Felixstowe in 2024

Det Sgt Mark Bassett, from Suffolk Police, offered his "deepest respect and gratitude" to Mrs Kinsey's family.

"We recognise that no sentence passed today can ever compensate for the loss of a beloved mother and wife.

"The evidence presented in court made it clear that Lewis Meadows did not intend to cause harm on that day.

"However, his decision to drive in a dangerous manner was not a fleeting lapse in judgement, it was a conscious and deliberate choice."

He added that Meadows demonstrated a "repeated pattern" of "reckless driving" and showed a disregard for the consequence of those actions.