Soldier who killed two teenage girls in car after drinking with colleagues jailed for six years

Michael Casey was distracted by vomit on his passenger seat when he ran red lights at a pedestrian crossing, ploughing into aspiring athletes Stacey Burrows, 16, and 17-year-old Lucy Pygott

Stacey Burrows (left) and Lucy Pygott (PA)

The parents of two promising teenage athletes have given "harrowing and heart-rending" accounts of the impact of their loss as a drunken soldier was jailed for six years for killing them by crashing into them while distracted by vomit in his car.

Michael Casey, of St Paul's Road, Tottenham, was sentenced at Winchester Crown Court for causing the deaths of Stacey Burrows, 16, and Lucy Pygott, 17.

The 24-year-old, of 4 Rifles, had been out drinking with colleagues and was over the drink-drive limit when the accident happened at a pedestrian crossing near his barracks in Aldershot, Hampshire, on November 8.

The court heard that he did not see the red light at the crossing because he was distracted by vomit left in the passenger area of the car by a colleague who had been sick when he had given him a lift home.

Casey was given a six-year jail sentence which means he should be released on licence after three years.

Michael Casey outside court (PA)

As the sentence was announced by Judge Keith Cutler, Stacey's mother Helen Burrows cried out from the public gallery: "I do not get my daughter back in three years, do I."

Reading her victim impact statement to the court, Lucy's mother Lisa Pygott said: "Mr Casey has broken our precious family, we are lost without Lucy.

"The British Army trains soldiers to kill, Mr Casey killed with his loaded weapon of a hot hatch car."

More to follow...