00:00I'm Juliette Seccombe and I'm Tilly's mother, yes.
00:09There are no winners here today, only losers.
00:12We have lost our beautiful daughter who had assessed for life
00:16and had her future mapped out before her.
00:19A life that I know would have achieved great things.
00:24Edward Spencer took away that life due to his reckless behaviour,
00:27putting his own ego before the safety of himself, his passengers and other road users.
00:35No sentence will bring back our daughter
00:37and we take little comfort in the punishment of someone else's son.
00:43However, we hope that Edward Spencer can at last reflect on his actions
00:48and finally accept responsibility for the devastation he has caused.
00:53We would like to thank all the emergency services who attended the scene,
00:59the hospital staff and the police investigation team,
01:03all of which have shown us incredible kindness and support.
01:07She was a beautiful girl, she was bright, funny, she was kind
01:10and she just had an army of friends and family that loved her.
01:15To lose a child is probably every worst nightmare a parent could have.
01:22I think if he'd been brave enough to hold his hands up and say,
01:27I did something very stupid, we would have, as parents, we would have forgiven him.
01:32We would have realised that it was a silly mistake that he made.
01:36But because he's shown no remorse, it's been particularly hard for us.
01:46My name is Toni Purcell and I'm Harry's mum.
01:49It's an indescribable suffering, a never-ending nightmare and a lifetime of sadness.
01:54We loved every minute of watching Harry grow into such a kind, loving and so very funny young man.
02:00Now we can only imagine what his future would have been.
02:03We carry such guilt that we're still here, but Harry's life has been taken.
02:09Our hearts are broken beyond repair and we now only have memories that will hold tight forever.
02:15Edward Spencer was speeding when he killed our son.
02:19Harry's death was completely avoidable.
02:22Our family and so many other families will be forever impacted by his actions that day.
02:28Yet it has taken almost two years for him to plead guilty.
02:32We'll never forgive him.
02:35Even though the numbers of young drivers have dropped significantly since 2010,
02:40in 2023 they caused 4,959 deaths and serious injury on the roads.
02:47This number has increased by 11% from the year before, according to government data.
02:52I now want to say this to the government.
02:56Whilst you are not considering graduated driving licences,
03:00you have recognised that young people are disproportionately victims of tragic incidents on our roads.
03:07It's time for action.
03:09Otherwise, more families will suffer the devastating loss of their loved ones.
03:13We want other young drivers to be aware.
03:17If you're going to be driving in such a manner that creates devastation,
03:23then you have to pay the price.
03:24I support the graduated driving licence but I also would like to see insurance companies putting black boxes in young drivers' cars when they first pass the test.
03:37I don't think there will ever be a resolution for us as a family.
03:40Harry will never come back and for him to plead guilty in the final hour, there's no getting away from what happened that day.
03:51He was the driver.
03:53He was the one that lost control.
03:56We put trust in Ed.
03:58You know, we spoke to Ed.
04:00We thought he would look after Tilly when he was driving and he chose not to.
04:06As a parent, we're going to have to live with that decision that we made.
04:11So I just hope any other parent out there hears this and supports graduated driving licences because it will support them in their decision making.
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