From the https://www.kentonline.co.uk By Julia Roberts, 31 January 2025.

Show-off’ driver clocked 117mph along 40mph Canterbury street before crashing into Old Gate Inn pub and killing Lucy Billingham, 18.

A “show-off” driver clocked a speed of 117mph just seconds before he crashed into a pub, killing a “beautiful, bubbly” teenage girl and seriously injuring another passenger.

A court heard Jack Cracknell was at the wheel of a high-powered Ford Fiesta ST when he ignored pleas to slow down and stop, lost control at a roundabout in New Dover Road, Canterbury, and ploughed into the Old Gate Inn.

Jack Cracknell caused the death of 18-year-old Lucy Billingham when he crashed into a pub seconds after clocking 117mph along a 40mph road. Picture: Kent Police.

The horror crash in the early hours of December 3, 2022, left rear-seat passenger Lucy Billingham dead and Colby Ainger, who was also in the back of the vehicle, with a fractured arm.

Neither, it appeared, had been wearing seatbelts.

Cracknell, who was 20 at the time and had held a full, clean driving licence for about a year, was giving 18-year-old Lucy and her best friend Louis Kennett a lift from the city’s Club Chemistry to the nearby Ebury Hotel when the tragedy occurred at about 4.20am.

Canterbury Crown Court heard that Mr Kennett, who was the front-seat passenger, was scared by the car’s “grossly excessive” and dangerous speed, and had repeatedly urged the young driver to stop.

Today, at Cracknell’s sentencing hearing, he branded the now 22-year-old’s actions that night as “murderous.”

The judge who jailed him also said how his “desire for danger and speed” had led to a fatal crash from which it was “a miracle” anyone survived.

Cracknell, of Brogdale Road, Ospringe, had admitted causing death by dangerous driving and causing serious injury by dangerous driving.

The Morrisons butcher, who has no previous convictions, had been out in Faversham with his friends Mr Ainger and Charlie Adams before heading to Club Chemistry, where they met Lucy.

The plan had been for her and Mr Kennett to walk to the hotel at the end of the evening but the court heard it was agreed that Cracknell would give them a lift.

Mr Kennett later told police he did not know Cracknell and only got in the car because Lucy, who grew up in Faversham, had.

Lucy Billingham’s family previously described her as a ‘popular, friendly and funny young woman’.

Cracknell had been drinking in the club but the court was told there was no evidence that alcohol had impaired his driving and, when subsequently breathalysed, his reading was below the legal limit.

But having set off for the hotel at about 4.10am, he was said by Mr Ainger to have “put his foot down” and began to drive extremely fast, hitting a speed in excess of 100mph, the prosecutor told the court.

“Mr Ainger didn’t say anything about his speed although he thought it was ‘a bit dodgy’,” said Mr Stevenson.

“But he claimed the defendant had driven at similar speeds in the past on clear and quiet motorways.”

However, Mr Kennett did express his concerns after noticing the significant increase in speed, that Cracknell was driving “faster and faster” and the engine acceleration becoming “louder and louder”, added the prosecutor.

“It was making Mr Kennett feel unsafe. He told him ‘Stop, stop, stop. You are going to miss it’, referring to the hotel, and that is exactly what happened.

“He drove straight on and Mr Kennett then said ‘Stop and let us out’. But Mr Cracknell said nothing and didn’t stop.”

Having driven past the hotel, Cracknell continued along New Dover Road where the approach to the Old Gate Inn is 40mph and there is a high-friction surface close to the roundabout.

The court was told there would have been ample opportunity for a driver travelling within the speed limit to appreciate the road layout and surface change.

However, Cracknell lost control, struck the kerb and the car went spinning into the air before first colliding with the pub porch and then the building itself.

Jack Cracknell’s red Ford Fiesta reached speeds of 117mph before he collided with the Old Gate Inn pub, killing 18-year-old Lucy Billingham.

It then rebounded and landed on the ground upside down.

The court was told that analysis later revealed the Fiesta had been speeding for potentially 1.3 miles and was travelling as fast as 117mph just five seconds before it hit the kerb at 85mph.

“In the view of the prosecution, this was a deliberate decision (to speed) and it was not an offence due to inexperience as opposed to irresponsibility,” added Mr Stevenson.

Although Cracknell, Mr Kennett, Mr Ainger and Mr Adams were able to free themselves from the vehicle, Lucy remained trapped in the wreckage.

Despite the substantial efforts of the emergency services, she could not be resuscitated and was pronounced dead at the scene.

The car’s own telematics system dialled 999 and Cracknell, who himself sustained a broken arm, told officers at the scene he thought he had been driving as fast as 120mph, adding: “I know it was stupid.”

Mr Stevenson told the court the sole cause of the collision was the defendant’s speed which prevented him from properly negotiating the road layout and roundabout.

Many of Lucy’s family were in court, including her mother Heather Kemsley, and sister Jessica. They spoke of how they had been left “broken” by the teenager’s untimely and unexpected death.

In her victim impact statement, Ms Kemsley revealed that her daughter had spent some time in care but, on turning 18, they had been reunited and were starting to bond more.

She described Lucy, who went to Sittingbourne School, as “a bright, bubbly girl, just coming out of her shell” and who was “really excited” about starting a new job at a Wetherspoon pub.

Lucy Billingham, 18, was killed in the crash in New Dover Road, Canterbury, in December 2022.

“When Lucy died it broke me. It broke the whole family. I have lost my daughter who I was just starting to bond with again and build up a relationship with,” wrote Ms Kemsley.

“She was so young, full of life, and her life has been cut short.

“Every day is a struggle for me. I cry daily and find it so hard to keep going. I just want to ask the driver why he did it. Why he didn’t just let her out.

“I have had the most precious thing taken away from me.”

Lucy’s sister Jessica, who also paid tribute at the time of the fatal smash, said they “always stood by each other”.

She described the anguish she felt at having to tell her children about their ‘Aunt Lucy’, and also having to help her mum plan the funeral.

In his statement read to the court, Mr Kennett said he had known Lucy since she was “a bossy little girl” and that they were best friends by the time she was killed.

Describing how he felt “angry, upset and uncomfortable all over” whenever he thought about that fateful night, he added: “You, Jack Cracknell, are a stupid, irresponsible person and your actions are murderous.

“You were ignorant to my warnings to stop at the hotel and you continued to speed up. You were showing off to everyone else in the car and making me feel scared.”

Mr Kennett also described that being a non-driver himself he could not do anything to stop Cracknell, adding: “I hope you regret this every day of your life.”

Every day is a struggle for me. I cry daily and find it so hard to keep going. I just want to ask the driver why he did it. Why he didn’t just let her out...

Cracknell was himself supported in court by several family and friends, and it was said that both Mr Ainger and Mr Adams were standing by him.

His mother wrote a letter on his behalf, describing how her son “just wanted to die” after the smash but would live with his “worst decision ever” for the rest of his life.

His actions that night were said by defence barrister Jack Talbot to be “devastating and incredibly ill-thought through” and ones he was “ready to take the punishment for.”

Reading out his client’s own written apology, Mr Talbot added that “genuine remorse, shame, guilt and self-hatred” were felt.

Cracknell wrote: “I want the Billingham family to know how sorry I really am for what I have done and how I have hurt them.

“I will never be able to forgive myself for what I have done to Lucy’s family and the grieving I have put them through.

“I just hope that knowing how sorry and awful I feel for what happened can help them through the grief.”

Jailing Cracknell for six years, Judge Simon James said Lucy was “a ball of energy, vibrant and popular” and that no sentence imposed could “possibly come anywhere close to bringing peace and solace” to those who knew her.

But he told Cracknell that he was the one responsible for her tragic death through what was a “deliberate and persistent” course of dangerous driving.

“You were driving at speeds well in excess of 100mph on a residential road where the speed limit is 40mph,” the judge said.

“You ignored pleas from your passengers to slow down before losing control and striking a kerb. The impact sent the vehicle spinning into collision with an adjacent building and the car eventually came to rest on its roof.

“Looking at the photographs of the resultant damage it is a miracle that anyone survived.

“Lucy’s death was caused by your irresponsibility, criminally reckless speed and abject failure to have regard to the safety of others.

“And although you didn’t intend to kill her, your desire for danger and speed directly caused her death.”

Judge James said on deciding the appropriate length of jail term to impose he had taken into account Cracknell’s previous good character, the delay in legal proceedings and genuine remorse, as well as his youth and immaturity as required by sentencing guidelines when dealing with young adults.

But he concluded: “I have little doubt that those closely connected with Lucy who continue to mourn her tragic passing will consider that the sentence comes no way close to compensating for her loss.

“Equally, I acknowledge that those close to you, who know your good qualities and have seen how this incident has affected you, will no doubt consider the sentence to represent severe punishment for a young man, who I am sure is terrified of the prospect of a custodial sentence.”

Cracknell was also given an eight-year driving ban.

Speaking after the hearing, Lucy’s mum told KentOnline she and her family feel let down by the length of Cracknell’s sentence.

“I thought he would get a longer sentence - at least nine years - and so did my other daughter,” she said.

“It has been so hard for all of us. Lucy was a very happy and bubbly outgoing person - we have truly suffered.

“Listening to the details in court was so hard, so upsetting - I held a doll (throughout the hearing) to help comfort me.

“I feel like the sentence should be longer but I do sympathise with him.

“Listening to the letter of his read out in court today shows he has taken a lot into consideration.”

Ms Kemsley also acknowledged her family are not the only ones impacted by Cracknell’s actions.

“We have suffered, but so has his family,” she added.

“I know I have lost my daughter but they have lost a brother and son - I feel sorry for them all because we are all grieving now.

“If they would like to talk to us, if it would bring them any comfort, then we are here.”