Woman who killed parents of toddler while rushing to beauty salon spared jail

A 27-year-old woman who killed a young couple in a head-on collision while she was in a hurry to get to a beauty salon before it closed has been spared jail.

Laila Barnard-Wigley was speeding in her Mercedes Benz after ‘biblical’ amounts of heavy rain left the roads wet in May 2021 in Bridlington.

Her car aquaplaned into an oncoming vehicle on the A165, killing Dean Yarrow, 33, and his girlfriend, Faye Wardle, 32.

Their two-year-old son, who was in a child seat in the rear of the vehicle, has now been left orphaned. 

Barnard-Wigley said she was ‘in a hurry’ to get to a Bridlington beauty salon before it closed at 3.30pm because she wanted to try to sell some beauty products.

To make ‘rapid progress through the traffic’ she weaved through vehicles before hitting some water on the road, Michael Greenhalgh, prosecuting, said.

She had overtaken another driver’s car and pulled in again but her car veered to the right and crashing into the oncoming red Peugeot, killing the two victims after their car was forced onto a nearby field.

Barnard-Wigley suffered serious injuries and was taken to hospital.

Mr Yarrow’s mum said in a statement said that she thought she ‘understood grief’ but she had ‘never known so much pain’ and her world was destroyed.

‘I am broken beyond repair,’ she said. ‘It has been a very difficult four-and-a-half years since we lost Dean and Faye,’ she said.

Miss Wardle’s dad said that the ‘silence is deafening’ at his home since the deaths.

He added: ‘My life at home is a very sad one.’

Miss Wardle’s sister, paying tribute to both victims, said: ‘They were both the life and soul of any party.It feels like part of my identity has been taken. I know that I am not the person I used to be.’

Richard Dawson, mitigating, said: ‘Had she been driving more slowly, she might not have aquaplaned.

‘This wasn’t a case of prolonged bad driving. This was an entirely out-of-character event. Her thoughts have always been very much for the victims and their families.

‘She is profoundly sorry and would seek to apologise for what she has now seen to be her careless driving and to apologise for the upset and heartbreaking distress which has evidently been caused.’

Barnard-Wigley was given a 21-month suspended prison sentence, 200 hours’ unpaid work and a six-month 9pm to 6am curfew.

She was banned from driving for five years and she must pass an extended retest before she can drive legally again.

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