A Porsche salesman who ploughed his car into two teenagers leaving them with horrific life-changing injuries has been released from jail – after just FOUR MONTHS.
Adam Hill, 35, was driving on the wrong side of the road in his £32,000 Audi A6 when he smashed into a Ford Fiesta carrying pals Beth Tyson and Kate Hunter.
The friends, who were 18 at the time, had just pulled onto the A46 near Market Rasen, Lincs., when their Fiesta was hit on December 18, 2013.
Beth, from Tealby, Lincs., suffered multiple broken bones and is now wheelchair-bound while Kate, also from Tealby, can no longer use her left arm properly.
Hill, from Caistor, Lincs., was found guilty of two counts of causing serious injury by dangerous driving on June 15.
He was jailed for 15 months at Lincoln Crown Court on July 20, but on 12 November he walked free after serving just a quarter of his sentence.
Kate’s dream of representing Team GB at the Paralympics in Rio 2016 were destroyed by the crash, while Beth now walks with a stick and also needs a wheelchair.
Rebecca Tyson, Beth’s sister, says: “He has served 16 weeks in prison and my sister through his careless actions have been left with a life sentence of pain ongoing surgery and it is heartbreaking to see my little sister crying in agony every day.”
Kate added: “I would simply like to say that I respect and acknowledge the role of the Ministry of Justice in imposing and implementing sentences and have nothing further to add.
“My only focus is on my rehabilitation and on achieving my life ambition of representing my country at the Paralympics.
“I won’t be able to make Rio 2016 now because, due to the crash, I wasn’t able to qualify for selection.
“But I’m still aiming to get there one day, I’m always going to be aiming for that.”
At the time, a court heard Hill was heading home from Lincoln but was “distracted” and “stressed” after losing his job at a Sheffield Porsche dealership following an allegation of theft.
The sales manager, who had just got engaged, had stopped twice to use his phone and had typed a message to a friend asking for a job just four minutes before the crash.
Beth, who is now 20, was trapped in her Fiesta for two hours before being rushed to hospital where she underwent a five-hour operation.
She then spent 24 hours in intensive care after suffering a crushed left foot, broken bones in her wrist and fractures in her neck, back, chest, wrist, thighs and lower left leg.
Beth, who had to give up her dreams of becoming a paramedic, has since spent 35 hours in surgery and needs a wheelchair or custom-made insoles for any walking.
Speaking at the original trial, Beth said: “I remember opening my eyes and trying to figure out where I was.
“I heard Kate crying and screaming. I tried to talk to her to calm her down.
“Hearing your best friend screaming because she was in pain was the worst part.”
Beth had to undergo therapy and counselling in order to get behind the wheel again.
She added:”I have a lot of anger with him (Hill) because he hasn’t apologised and it’s quite simple to say sorry to someone.
“It’s changed our lives forever. He’ll eventually be back on the road. He deserves to go to jail.”
Beth slammed the decision to release Hill just four months into his sentence and declared – “I’m the one who has been punished.”
She said: “They call it a justice system but I don’t really feel justified at all by this decision.
“He’s the criminal and I’m the victim of his crime but I feel like I’m the one that’s being punished more.
“It’s just really hard because there’s nothing I could do to get out of the way of his car. I wasn’t in the wrong at all and I’ve been the one that’s had all the punishment really.
“The pain makes it harder to accept and get over the accident because I wasn’t like that before.
“Some days I just don’t want to do anything.”
Amy Aeron-Thomas, from the charity Road Peace, said Hill should have served at least seven-and-a-half months.
She added: “If he had pleaded guilty he would have got a sentence discount of 30 per cent – that would reduce his total to 10 months and he then would have served half.
“But he didn’t do that, he put the families through so much more extended trauma.”
Carloe Whittingham, from Support and Care After Road Death and Injury, said releasing Hill early sent out the wrong message.
She added: “It tells people that it’s OK to injure or kill someone, the worst that you will do in prison is a few months.
“We should be thinking about the victims who are those affected for life, and also consider minimum sentences, rather than in terms of maximum sentences.”
The Ministry of Justice refused to comment on individual cases but said only prisoners who passed a strict risk assessment can be released on a home detention curfew.
