Norris Green man jailed following the death of a 13-year-old boy in “careless driving” road collision

A man has today, Friday 12th July, been jailed for 12 months following a road collision in Croxteth where a 13-year-old boy was killed.

At around 7.20pm on Wednesday 7th December 2022, emergency services were called to East Lancashire Road, near to junctions of Stonedale Retail Park and Lowerhouse Lane, to reports that a child had been involved in a collision with a silver Vauxhall Astra.

The pedestrian, 13-year-old Harry Kinney-Ryan, had just bought sweets from a nearby petrol station when the collision occurred. 

Harry sadly died in hospital two days later, 9 December, from his injuries. 

The driver of the Vauxhall Astra, 36-year-old Craig Griffiths, remained at the scene and was later charged with causing death by careless driving.

At a court hearing last month Griffiths, of Frinstead Road in Norris Green, pleaded guilty to causing death by careless driving. Today he was sentenced to 12 months in prison and given a 12-month disqualification at Liverpool Crown Court.

Detective Sergeant Andy Roper, Lead Investigating Officer from Merseyside Police Serious Collision Investigation Unit said:

“Our sincere condolences remain very much with Harry’s family. It has been a very difficult time for them as their lives have been changed forever and they continue to grieve for him. They have been supported by our specially trained Family Liaison Officer throughout the process.

“This is an extremely sad case in which the driving decisions made by Griffiths that day have led to devastating consequences. Not just for Harry’s family and friends, but indeed for his own. 

“I would like to praise the actions of members of the public who stopped to help, administer first aid and provide care which enabled Harry to survive in hospital for a further two days. This provided his loved ones with the ability to spend some precious final moments with him. 

“I hope that today’s sentence will go some way for Harry’s family to begin to try and move forward and properly grieve after more than 18 months of agony. My deepest condolences and thoughts have, and always will, remain with them.”

Following an investigation, detectives from Merseyside Polices Serious Collision Investigation Unit established that Griffiths was driving between 53mph and 58mph before the collision. 

Detective Sergeant Roper added:

“I hope that the detail of this case sends out a strong message to all motorists and should serve to remind people that as driver’s we are all accountable for the decisions we make on the road and that they can have life shattering consequences.

“I would ask motorists to reflect on how we use our vehicles and to be road safety conscious while driving on the road. Excess speed devastates lives to those involved in road crashes. No one wants to be involved in such incidents and we must change driving behaviour to reduce this.

“Merseyside Police will not tolerate drivers who deliberately ignore the rules of the road and we are committed to preventing serious injury and road death, and we are working towards Vision Zero – our strategy focused on driving down the amount of road traffic collisions in our region and to lower the number of people killed and seriously injured on our streets.  

“However, this is something that we must all do in partnership to help make the roads safer.”

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