MOTHER WHO KILLED HER SONS, SIX AND EIGHT, IN SCHOOL RUN CRASH AFTER SHE MESSAGED PARTNER SAYING 'MY TYRE IS GOING FLAT AGAIN' IS SPARED JAIL
A mother drove her children in an under-inflated tyre which led to a head-on collision that killed her two sons, Louie and Mason Ellis, aged six and eight, in October 2023.She sent a WhatsApp message the day before, stating 'my tyre is going flat again,’ which was a factor in her losing control of her car, causing the crash.
A court heard she pleaded guilty to causing the deaths by careless driving but was spared jail after a judge highlighted her already suffering from grief.
The court sentenced her to 20 months imprisonment suspended for two years and imposed driving restrictions and mental health and activity requirements.
Louie died at the scene; Mason was airlifted but died hours later, while a four-year-old in her car was injured but survived.
The judge found her decision not to rectify the tyre contributed to the tragic outcome.
She was travelling along the A52 to her home in Hutoft when she failed to negotiate a left hand bend.
An expert vehicle examiner later concluded Sheppard lost control of her car at Sutton on Sea due to an under-inflated offside rear tyre which gave a reading of just 5 psi following the collision, but which could have lost pressure during the crash.
Mr Eager told the court Sheppard's Astra simply crossed into the opposite lane and collided head-on with the Audi.
He explained 'the seeds were sewn the previous day' when Sheppard sent her partner the WhatsApp message about the deflating tyre.
Mr Eager said Sheppard's partner mistakenly checked her front right tyre that evening and it gave a reading of 32 psi.
'Sadly, tragically he did not check any of the other tyres,' Mr Eager added.
CCTV footage obtained by the prosecution showed the under-inflated tyre on Sheppard's journey to work, and Mr Eager explained there were two local filling stations with psi machines within a four mile radius when she started her last journey.
An experienced motorist who was travelling behind Sheppard on the A52 described how she was driving otherwise normally ten miles below the speed limit, but noticed the under-inflated tyre and estimated its psi at just 15-20.
Mr Eager said the driver was so concerned that he dropped backwards and noticed the Astra was 'wallowing'.
'The back end went, it turned 45 degrees,' the driver explained.
'It must have been like it appeared from nowhere to the guy in the Audi.' Louie passed away at the scene of the accident.
Mason and a four-year-old child were air lifted by the Air Ambulance to Sheffield children's hospital.
Mason sadly passed away just hours later but the four-year-old survived, Lincoln Crown Court was told.
Mr Eager said Sheppard, who was also injured, gave a full account during a two hour police interview in which she admitted being aware of the under-inflated tyre and not rectifying it.
A moving victim impact statement from the boys' father, Laurie Ellis, who was separated from Sheppard and with a different partner at the time of the collision, described Mason as his best friend who was 'always cheeky, always smiling'.
'Losing him feels like losing part of myself,' Mr Ellis explained.
Mr Ellis also noted Louie's love of football and watching Liverpool together.
'I miss the little things the most,' Mr Ellis added.
Mr Ellis said of Sheppard's decision to drive with an under-inflated tyre: 'Any normal parent would never take that risk.
I will never understand it, I will never forgive it,' Mr Ellis insisted.
Katherine Robinson, defending, said Sheppard had been assessed as suffering from a severe mental health condition as a result of the trauma of the incident.
Ms Robinson concluded by urging the court to pass a non-custodial sentence and stressed the 'greatest punishment' she could ever face was the loss of her children.
'That will stay with her forever,' Ms Robinson stated.
