Mum's battle to change the law 'for my girls'

A NORTH East mum who began fighting for change after her partner was killed by a drink and drugfuelled driver, has had her campaign featured in the Government's new Road Safety Strategy.

- By Kristy Dawson

Carol King, from Sunderland, discovered she was having Richard Gray Jordan's second baby after he was killed in a car crash on the A19 near Houghton-le-Spring.

The 33-year-old non-league footballer, who was known as Richie, had been travelling in a Mercedes driven by his work colleague Mark Thompson.

Newcastle Crown Court heard how Thompson clocked more than 121mph before ploughing into the back of a Vauxhall Corsa in August 2019. Richie was sent flying from the vehicle and died from his injuries.

Front seat passenger Lewis Atkinson suffered a bleed on the brain.

Thompson was over the legal limit for alcohol and Benzoylecgonine, a breakdown product of cocaine, at the time.

Thompson, of Seaton Crescent in Seaham, County Durham, admitted causing death by dangerous driving and causing serious injury by dangerous driving. He was jailed for six years and eight months at the court in Newcastle in August 2021.

Carol said that during the two years between Richie's death and his sentencing hearing, Thompson was still allowed to drive on the roads.

This is because, as it stands, a driver's licence is not revoked until there is a relevant criminal conviction.