Family tell of intense pain over boy's death

The family of a 15-year-old boy killed in a horror smash in Smethwick say they are still in "intense pain" after the driver was jailed for six years.

Joshua McAuley, a Jehovah's Witness who lived locally in Church Gardens, had been out preaching when he was struck by Mahamed Salam's red Vauxhall Astra and pinned against a shop front in Cape Hill on May 15 last year.

Salam, aged 29, of Green Street, West Bromwich, was sentenced yesterday at Wolverhampton Crown Court. He was imprisoned for six years and disqualified from driving for 10 years after admitting causing death by dangerous driving.

In a statement read to the court yesterday Joshua's mother Denise McAuley said: "The pain I feel now is so intense. I wish it would go away. It is like I have been cheated by the death of Josh.

"My dear Josh went out of the house happy and never returned."

Wolverhampton Crown Court heard that Josh, a pupil at Shireland Collegiate Academy had been waiting outside the shop while his friend went in for a drink.

The teenager was trapped in the wreckage for an hour and airlifted to Selly Oak hospital, where he later died.

In mitigation Mr Anthony Potter said Salam, who left the scene after the crash, did so because of "shock and fear".

Sentencing, Judge Martin Walsh told Salam: "A young life was taken away and a family damaged if not destroyed by the consequences of your actions.

"No sentence this court can impose can be, or should be, seen to be a reflection of the value of the life lost."

Speaking after sentencing Insp Mark Watkins, from West Midlands Police's Collision Investigation Unit, said: "Salam drove in a dangerous manner on a busy main road on a Saturday morning and Joshua's death was a direct consequence of Salam's dangerous driving."