A 34-year old man has been sentenced to 18 years in prison by the UK’s Worcester Crown Court for getting drunk, stealing a car, and crashing into three victims, leaving them dead in February 2024.
Joe–Lewis Tyler had at least five pints of beer in addition to liquor at a pub according to a bartender when he left the establishment, stole a BMW, and crashed into the three victims who were in a Ford driving on the A44 in February. The victims were six-year-old Leo Painter, 26-year-old Courtney Hemming, and 39-year-old Claire Adkins.
The two women had just retrieved Leo from school to take him home when they were struck by the BMW driven by the drunk Tyler. He crashed into the side of their car just after 3 pm that day.
Courtney Hemming left behind a nine-year-old son. Both women were declared dead at the scene, and Leo died at the hospital shortly after the accident.
This was not Tyler’s first brush with drunk driving. On same day as the fatal accident, he reportedly nearly hit two other motorists while driving.
The bartender on duty who served Tyler said the man had downed five pints along with four shots of various liquors before the bar threw Tyler and a friend out for disruptive behavior.
Tyler admitted to his actions and said he was responsible for the deaths, and for driving without insurance.
A driver who saw Tyler tearing down the road in the stolen BMW before the fatal wreck said she was afraid she would die when the BMW started gliding across the wet road, coming in her direction. But that wasn’t all—during the same trip, Tyler apparently lost control of the car and “spun” it.
At the time of the crash, Tyler’s blood alcohol was significantly over the legal limit for driving. He also had cocaine and marijuana in his system.
The death of her son Leo left Gemma Painter “broken,” she said.
The sentencing judge chastised Tyler for taking “no heed” of the safety of other people.
