Take It Easy November 27 2009

DONT DRINK AND DRIVE THIS CHRISTMAS

Paula Roberts told how her beautiful six year old daughter Demi-Legh was mowed down by a drink driver as she skipped along the street singing songs with a friend

As the children streamed out of the school gates, I squinted through the crowd looking for a pink blur.

“Mummy,” my daughter Demi-Leigh called as she ran out from the throngs of anoraks.

Reaching down I picked her up and wrapped my arms around her.

“How was school?” I asked.

“Really good,” she laughed, her blue eyes twinkling mischeviously. “I got married today.”

I listened as she told me she’d had a pretend wedding that day with a fellow classmate.

“I wore a pink dress and had a pink wand,” she said excitedly. “When I get married properly, I want a horse and carriage too.”

I rolled my eyes as I planted a kiss on her cheek. Nothing would ever surprise and her dad Paul Royle, 35, with Demi-Leigh.

Although she was only six, she was so out-going and always the belle of the ball. Blonde and blue-eyed, she loved to sing and dance and was a member of our local morris dancing group.

At parents’ evenings her teachers told us she sang all day, even when sat alone doing her schoolwork.

She had a knockout smile and was a headstrong little madam. So when she told me she’d got ‘married’ it didn’t surprise me.

There was never a dull moment in my household in Huyton, Liverpool . Alongside Demi-Leigh we had Emma Sue, three, Thomas, four, eight, nine,

Later that night as I started getting tea ready, Demi-Leigh asked if she could go and play at her friend Faye’s house across the road.

“Ok,” I said. Faye’s mum Anna Standley was a friend of mine.

“Come back in an hour,” I called after her.

Half an hour later as I ran around the house tidying up after the kids, the doorbell rang.

I pulled the door open and a young woman was stood on the doorstep.

“Do you have a little girl with the blonde hair?” She asked, her face white as a sheet.

“Yes,” I said.

“There’s been a crash at the shops, she’s been knocked down,” the girl said, her lower lip trembling.

I ran down the front steps and across the road. I hammered on Anne’s door. No answer.

Peering through the front window, I could see the telly on but nobody was there.

A neighbour hearing the commotion came out. “Come on Paula, I’ll drive you to the shops,” she said.

As we approached the scene, wailing sirens could be heard above women’s screams.

Suddenly I knew.

Flinging the car door open, I stumbled towards police officers.

They exchanged alarmed looks. One came towards me.

“Come on love, get in the patrol car, we’ll take you to hospital,” he said.

“No, no, no,” I screamed as my legs buckled. I fell to the floor curling myself up into a ball as my body heaved with sobs.

Not my Demi-Leigh. Not my blue-eyed girl.

When we arrived at Whiston hospital a surgeon came to speak to me.

“I’m sorry,” he said. “There was nothing more we could do.”

Unable to take any more I collapsed with grief.

The next few days are a blur.

I had to tell my other children who were inconsolable. Even the little ones who didn’t understand knew something very bad had happened.

Notes and messages came thick and fast for Demi-Leigh. One child wote, ‘we will miss you now that you are dancing with the angels.’

I felt like my heart was breaking.

Officers visitied telling us local man Ross Richardson, 24 had been arrested and charged with causing death by dangerous driving.

He had been drunk when he hit Demi-Leigh and had cowardly fled the scene.

Two weeks later, in May 2008, we held a funeral.

Unable to give little Demi-Leigh the wedding of her dreams we resolved to give her a Cinderella send off.

We had a pink hello Kitty coffin and a white horse and carriage took her to the church.

“Goodbye my angel,” I whispered as we said our goodbyes, tears streaming down my cheeks.

In the weeks following I tried to prepare myself mentally for the court case. I felt numb with grief and shock and wondered how I was going to cope.

On June 23 me and six other family members, including my mum and dad Gary and Lorraine , went along to Liverpool Crown Court.

During the court hearing, Richardson admitted to drinking five pints in one hour before getting in a relative’s van.

He was seen driving at 70 miles per hour, on the wrong side of the road and crossing central reservations in the run up to the crash.

I sobbed in court as I heard witnesses say Demi-Leigh had been dancing and skipping along when Richardson ’s van mounted the pavement and ploughed into her.

One witness said the sound was like a football hitting a metal door.

Robinson had previous conviction for driving offences.

He was jailed for nine years after admitting death by dangerous driving.In sentencing Judge Henry Globe QC told him: "It was extremely fortunate you did not plough into the whole group of them killing all four of them. Sadly you did collide with Demi causing her immediate death."

"Demi Leigh was a six-year-old loving and loveable little girl who was happily walking on the pavement with an adult friend of the family who was pushing a pram and was with her two children when you lost control of the van you were driving, mounting the kerb, collided with her killing her.”

Since that day we as a family have struggled to come to terms with our grief.

In January this year, Richardson placed an appeal.

I travelled to London to see his sentence reduced by 12 months. It felt like they were adding insult to injury.

Now I would like to issue a warning to other people as we get closer to Christmas.

Everybody likes a drink during the festive season but before people get behind the wheel they should know they aren’t only risking a few points and a fine.

Their actions could in fact kill a little angel like my Demi-Leigh.