A driver who accelerated through a red light and fatally struck a boy scout as he was crossing the road has been jailed for five years and six months.
Evie Wiles, 25, was distracted by her phone when her Seat Leon car hit 14-year-old Christopher Arnett in Hemel Hempstead, Hertfordshire, judge Andrew Hatton said.
Sentencing at Luton Crown Court, the judge said he rejected Wiles’ account that the traffic light was on amber on the evening of February 2, 2023.
“I’m entirely satisfied that as you approached the traffic lights they changed to red,” he said.
He said her knowledge of the junction meant she knew that if she had stopped at the red light, she “would be there for some time before they changed to green”.
The judge said it was “difficult if not impossible to assess the speed” at which Wiles was travelling at the time of the collision, at the junction of London Road with Two Waters Road.
He said that Wiles said in evidence that she approached the lights at 20-30mph, then accelerated to 30-35mph.
He said she had been exchanging Whatsapp messages with her partner, who she had been travelling to collect.
“I’m satisfied you were distracted by your phone and that exchange of messages,” the judge said.
Wiles denied causing Christopher’s death by dangerous driving, but was found guilty following an earlier trial at the same court.
Wiles, of Lockers Park Lane, Hemel Hempstead, looked straight ahead as she was jailed for five years and six months on Friday.
She could be released on licence after serving half of this.
The judge also handed her a five-year driving ban, with an extension of 30 months “intended to ensure that on your release you’re subject to a ban of around five years”.
Christopher’s mother, Claire Arnett, 52, earlier wiped tears from her eyes as she read a victim impact statement in court, and said: “I mourn the fact I won’t watch him grow into a man, he was one of my best friends.”
The teacher, addressing Wiles in the dock, said: “You’ve not once said sorry… you never even called 999.”
Christopher’s father, Lee Arnett, told the court that his son “loved Lego and loved Star Wars and Dr Who and Explorer Scouts”.
The 49-year-old, who is a shift manager for a distribution company, said: “Since that day we’ve been living in a nightmare – the pain of losing Christopher is indescribable.”
Christopher Martin, mitigating for Wiles, said the defendant had no previous convictions and was just 23 years old at the time of the collision.
In a statement afterwards, Christopher’s parents said: “Losing a child is painful enough, but the brutal way that Christopher was taken from us will haunt us until our dying breaths.
“His killer destroyed not just his life but all of our lives that day, and we will never forgive her for that and her utter lack of remorse and refusal to accept any wrongdoing.”
They said that Christopher “was just one of those people you knew would do good in the world”.
He had been a scout from aged five and was about to start his Duke of Edinburgh award.
Sam Collard, a solicitor at Osbornes Law who represented the family in a civil action, said: “It has taken more than two years to bring Christopher’s killer to justice and, whilst nothing can bring him back, I hope that now legal action is at an end they can finally be left to grieve for their son in peace.”
