Killer Jonathon Hopkinson made reckless and deadly choices before Alice Birchall was thrown into his careering and speeding path on June 18, 2022. Judge Tom Bayliss told said he chose to get into a car despite knowing he was over the drink-drive limit. He did so with his daughter as a passenger in the car.
The court heard Hopkinson, 35, had driven at speeds of 100mph in residential streets with a limit of 30mph. It was 8.30pm.
His selfish actions not only killed Alice but left himself and his daughter seriously injured. Eyewitnesses were caused distress and trauma as they pulled the three bodies from the wreckage of the crash he had caused. Alice's sister Amy described the fact her sister had been killed by a drunk driver a "sick, twisted irony".
The girls had both overcome adversity and trauma, having to live through their father's death and their grieving mother's spiral into alcoholism - one that included a drink-driving conviction - before she too died. At the tender ages of just 17 and 20 years old, the girls were left with only each other and their supporting family members. Despite all she had gone through, Alice worked hard to build a life - one where she could take care of her little sister.
She was so close to living out her dreams with a much-wished for career in jewellery design before Hopkinson cruelly ripped it away. Brave Amy paid tribute to Alice with a statement she courageously read to the court. It illustrated Alice's personality, her love for her family an.
