'Devastated': Family cannot appeal sentence of drink driver who killed schoolgirl
The family of an 11-year-old girl who died after being struck by a car have been told they cannot appeal her killer’s sentence.
Olivia-Violet Reeves was on her way home after school in June when drink driver Roger Goodall lost control of his Range Rover in Mytton Oak Road, Shrewsbury.
The schoolgirl died in her mother’s arms.
Goodall, who had been drinking from a bottle of wine while in his car, was sentenced to four-and-a-half years in prison after pleading guilty to causing death by dangerous driving.
This week the Reeves family learned they had been unsuccessful in their bid to refer the sentence to the Court of Appeal.
They are now considering what further legal action they can take.
See also: Social media campaign in memory of Liv
A letter from Michelle Crotty, director and deputy head of office at the Attorney General's office, said: "In response to the petition, we have offered to meet to explain in person why the decision was taken not to refer the sentence to the Court of Appeal.
"There are sentencing guidelines that judges must adhere to and in this case, the sentence given fell within the guidelines available for this offence.
"This mean that neither the Attorney General nor the Solicitor General could appeal Roger Goodall's sentence.
"I appreciate this letter will not contain the reply you wished for but I am afraid there is nothing more we can do in this case."
Simon Reeves, Olivia-Violet’s uncle, said: “We received the letter on Friday telling us that the matter would not be brought be brought before the Attorney General.
"The reason given was that the sentence he received was within the sentencing guidelines.
“The decision was taken to not refer the sentence to the Court of Appeal. We met with our solicitor on Monday and he is now seeing what else we can do.
“Although the correspondence from the Attorney General’s Office states Olivia’s mother has been sent a letter explaining the Attorney General’s position, this is in fact untrue.
"Nothing has yet been received. We are also unsure who we are supposed to contact in order to set up a meeting.
“We are chasing up the transcript of the court proceedings.
“When Goodall was sentenced the judge made comments about how the sentence would affect his wife. Everyone in the courtroom heard it. But it seems he did not think about how this has affected us.
“We are still looking for an apology from the court. Goodall’s wife was treated better than we were. The fact that there will be no appeal is devastating.”
Olivia-Violet was a keen conservationist and wanted to be a marine biologist.
