Driver who steered into crowd jailed for Rebecca Steer's murder

Student Rebecca Steer had wanted to become a police detective

A drink-driver who deliberately steered into a crowd "like they were human skittles" and fatally injured a student has been jailed for her murder.

Rebecca Steer, 22, died after she was dragged underneath the Volvo in Oswestry, Shropshire, on 9 October.

Stephen McHugh, who had also taken cocaine and did not hold a driving licence, was convicted on Thursday after a trial at Stafford Crown Court.

He was sentenced to a minimum of 18 years.

The court heard how McHugh mounted the kerb and ploughed into a group of pedestrians on a pavement outside the Grill Out takeaway.

As well as hitting bystander Ms Steer, he also struck and injured two men who were "knocked aside" by the car's front wing.

Stephen McHugh snorted cocaine less than five minutes before driving into the crowd of people

McHugh, 28, was also convicted of attempting to cause grievous bodily harm with intent.

Passing sentence, Mr Justice Andrew Baker said McHugh, of Artillery Road, Park Hall, Shropshire, had reacted to verbal abuse directed at his erratic driving by treating pedestrians "like they were human skittles".

Describing the murder of Ms Steer, of Llanymynech, Powys, as an "outrage", Mr Justice Andrew Baker said the incident could have been "much worse" for the group who had been standing on the footpath.

"For Becky Steer, as everyone in court knows, it could not have been worse," he added.

During the trial, McHugh admitted having almost no driving experience and had never had a driving lesson.

He had also admitted drinking and taking drugs before he got behind the wheel.

Jurors heard how the 28-year-old, formerly of Fazakerley, Liverpool, had driven on the footpath less than five minutes after snorting cocaine.

He had previously claimed in court he had been trying to frighten a group of people outside the takeaway in Willow Street, but had denied using his car as a "weapon" to deliberately drive into pedestrians.

Jurors deliberated for more than eight-and-a-half hours over three days, before convicting him of murder by a majority verdict.

The court had heard how Ms Steer, who wanted to become a police detective, was in her final year of a criminal justice course at Liverpool John Moores University.

In a victim impact statement, Ms Steer's mother described her daughter as the "most loving, talented and kind-hearted person who you could have wished to know".

The "talented and kind-hearted" 22-year-old was in her final year at Liverpool John Moores University

Mr Justice Andrew Baker added: "In her mother's words she was 'flying' through her course and had great ambitions and a future full of potential."

He told McHugh, who made a thumbs-up gesture towards the jury as he was led away after sentencing: "The fact that it was illegal for you to be driving at all, even if stone-cold sober, makes it even more of an outrage.

"You arrived behind the wheel driving too fast and too close to the pavement - unfit to be driving anywhere."

The judge also ordered the destruction of McHugh's automatic Volvo, which he had acquired after trading in a manual Volkswagen Passat, eight days before the incident.