A grieving widow has thanked former Prime Minister Theresa May for speaking out about the “tragedy and devastation” caused by dangerous driving – after three people were killed in road crashes in the MP’s constituency.

Cookham resident Ciara Lee, the widow of Eddy Lee, a 46-year-old father who was killed in a crash on the M4 in July 2018, praised Maidenhead MP Mrs May for speaking in Parliament on July 21 about the need to increase prison sentences for those who cause death by dangerous driving.

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The MP mentioned three of her constituents who were all killed by dangerous drivers – Mr Lee, 13-year-old Max Simmons who was hit and killed by a Wooburn Green driver as he crossed the road on December 21 last year, and Bryony Hollands, from Maidenhead, who was killed in Sheffield in 2015.

Mrs Lee, a prominent road safety campaigner and journalist, said: “Thank you Theresa May for not only tabling the death by dangerous driving bill, but for saying the names of your constituents who were needlessly killed. Eddy. Bryony. Max. Three young lives lost.”

Speaking to fellow MPs in the Commons on Tuesday, Mrs May said the maximum sentence for causing death by dangerous driving should be increased from the present 14 years to life.

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She said: “Death by dangerous driving is an all too familiar phrase, yet I wonder how many people, when they hear that phrase, think about the tragedy and devastation of lives that lies behind it.

“In 2015, my 19-year-old constituent Bryony Hollands died at the hands of a dangerous driver—a driver under the influence of drink and drugs. He was sentenced to eight years and served just four years in jail.

“In July 2018, my constituent Ciara Lee’s husband Eddy was killed on the M4. The driver responsible was sentenced to just 22 months and is already out on licence.

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“In December 2019, a driver under the influence of drugs hit and killed 13-year-old Max Simmons in my constituency.

“The judge described the defendant’s driving record as ‘nothing less than appalling’, indicating an ‘utterly selfish and thoughtless attitude to other drivers’.”

Mrs May added that when she was Prime Minister, a government consultation found “considerable support” for increasing the sentence to life, but a bill was delayed and not brought forward before she stepped down.

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She said: “This bill, the Death by Dangerous Driving (Sentencing) Bill, is simple. It amends the Road Traffic Offenders Act 1988 to increase the maximum sentence for causing death by dangerous driving to life imprisonment.

“It fulfils the commitment I gave, it fulfils the commitment my government gave and it fulfils the commitment this government have given.

“It has cross-party support, and it does the government’s work for them.

“The bill responds to a genuine concern that the severity of the offence is not always reflected in current sentencing, because of the limitations on the sentence that currently exist.

“It does not try to introduce an eye-for-an-eye type of justice system. What it does is ensure justice for victims and their families.”

She continued: “No sentence can make up for the tragic loss of a loved one—a life cut short, a future obliterated, a family devastated—but the sentence can enable those left behind to feel that justice has been done.

“Today, in too many cases, they feel that justice has not been done.”