Historian jailed for killing couple in horror crash

Ellen Leslie was jailed for causing the deaths of Steve and Chris Goodings

An architectural historian has been jailed for killing a couple in a crash after falling asleep at the wheel.

Ellen Charlotte Leslie, 55, caused a head-on collision with a lorry on the A66 in Cumbria in May 2022.

The lorry then careered into a Volkswagen Golf being driven by Steve Goodings alongside his wife Christine, who both died of their injuries.

At Carlisle Crown Court, Leslie was jailed for 28 months for death by dangerous driving.

The court was shown video footage from a passing vehicle that recorded the moment Leslie's car drifted across solid double white lines on the A66, near Warcop, on 23 May 2022.

The Volkswagen T-Cross, containing Leslie and her son Theo, collided with the lorry, which lost control and hit the Goodings' car.

Chris, 61, died at the scene while her husband Steve died 24 days later in hospital. They were both from Sunderland.

'Life sentence of grief'

Leslie, now of Hamlet Road, Bromley, admitted causing the couple's death by dangerous driving and said she would have to "live with that for the rest of [her] life".

A police investigator found there had been no effort by Leslie to change direction or speed for five seconds before the crash.

After the collision she told police she had "no idea" why it occurred but maintained she was not tired at the time.

Judge Nicholas Barker concluded it was “highly likely” that Leslie fell asleep at the wheel.

'Truly devastating effects'

The court heard that Steve and Chris Gooding had been married for almost four decades and did "most things together".

One of their two sons, Steven junior said: "My parents’ life has been stolen from them and with them their dreams of spending the next chapter of their lives doing the things they had worked for together."

Their other son Gareth added: "Losing them both in these circumstances is incomprehensible and I will never recover from losing them.

"I will never overcome this life sentence of grief."

Leslie was jailed for 28 months and was banned from driving for five years following her release.

Sentencing, Judge Barker said: "The court understands that you are not a bad person, though you have done a bad thing which has had truly devastating effects."