Martin Newman, 41, stayed up until 5 in the morning drinking and drinking cocaine and fell asleep just two hours before dropping his Ford Transit on a Ford Fiesta stuck on the hard shoulder of the M4 motorway. Brothers Grace-Ann Wheaten, four, and their three-year-old son, Jayden-Lee Lucas, who were in the back, were taken to the University Hospital of Wales, but could not be saved. Their mother, Rhiannon Lucas, was seriously injured in hospital for 10 days after the “terrible” collision, at 1.45pm on Saturday, February 5th. Image: Relatives have been “devastated” by the tragic death of the brothers The family, from Tredegar in south-east Wales, were returning from a birthday party traveling to Cardiff when it was hit between junctions 28 and 29 near Newport. The accused was hanged and was driving “irregularly” Newman was seen passing through traffic and talking on his phone before crossing three lanes and turning on his hard shoulder at 70 mph in an apparent attempt to pick up a truck. Press the brake two seconds before hitting the Ford Fiesta at 57 mph. The family had a hard shoulder after Gracie-Ann complained that she had a bad stomach and needed a toilet. Newman had earlier decided he was too tired to work and instead drove to Bridget for three hours. The Leicester-based painter and decorator said he could not remember going hard-shoulder and believed he must have fallen asleep. Newman, from Croeserw, near Port Talbot, claimed to have taken a sip of an open bottle of red wine found in the vehicle because “his mouth was dry”. He was more than twice the driving limit under the influence of alcohol and still had traces of cocaine in his system, according to a test. Newman was found crying at the scene of the crash with blood on his hands and said he “wished he was dead,” Cardiff Crown Court heard. He admitted that he caused the death of the children by dangerous driving and the serious injury of their mother. Sentencing Newman to nine years and four months behind bars, Judge Daniel Williams said: “This was the most serious level of dangerous driving. “It involved gross violations of the rules of the road and utter contempt for the danger you posed to others while driving.” “Our family home looks like an empty shell” The grieving family members revealed how their lives have been “ruined” by the “catastrophic” accident and how they have paid the “absolute price”. In a statement, they said: “Our family home now feels like an empty shell without them and the love and happiness they brought us can never be replaced. “We hope that today’s sentence will act as a deterrent to anyone who may think he is driving in a dangerous way, especially when he is intoxicated with alcohol and drugs and is distracted by a mobile phone. “Any prison sentence that a court can impose will never be enough and will never bring back Gracie Ann and Jayden Lee.” Image: Jayden-Lee Lucas “The sentence was not severe enough” Ms. Lucas’s uncle, Darren Lucas, said the family would fight for Newman for a longer sentence. “We are completely devastated. It should have been a lot longer than that,” he said. “The sentence was not severe enough to take the lives of two children drunk and drugged and everything else. “We will start a campaign to change the law and do the best for the memory of these children, so that this does not happen again.” But Judge Williams said he was not in a position to impose a higher sentence than the law allowed. “Parliament has set a maximum sentence of 14 years in prison,” he said. “Many will consider such a maximum sentence to be insufficient to reflect what you have done,” he told Newman. “Many may ask for the maximum sentence to be reconsidered. This is not a matter for the court, but for parliament.” Judge Williams said he was bound by law to reduce Newman’s sentence by a third because he had pleaded guilty at the earliest opportunity. It could not impose separate sentences for each category of death from dangerous driving due to the convictions and could only impose parallel sentences for further charges for driving under the influence of alcohol and drugs. Newman also received a traffic ban for 14 years and eight months.
