A terrified teenage girl predicted her own death on Facebook just minutes before she lost her life at the hands of a drunken driver, a court heard today.
Kayleigh Lawrie, 14, pleaded to be allowed to get out of the car being driven by her father’s friend because she was so scared by his ‘Formula One’ style driving.
Kayleigh, who had already posted a message on Facebook saying ‘I think I’m going to die’, was told by her father Scott Lawrie not to be so stupid.
Moments later the driver Steven Hayter – who was twice over the drink-drive limit – lost control of his Renault Clio on a country road near Kayleigh’s home in Willoughby, Lincolnshire.
He was attempting to retrieve a cigarette he had dropped in the foot well.
The car skewed across the road into a ditch and then flew 60ft through the air before crashing down. Kayleigh, who was on the back seat, died instantly. A 13-year-old boy in the car suffered a fractured skull and facial injuries.
Lincoln Crown Court was told that Hayter had been on a seven-hour drinking session the previous night and then after a few hours sleep drank wine before setting out on his journey to visit a bank in the resort of Skegness.
Andrew Scott, prosecuting, said that on the night before Hayter drank four pints of lager in his village local before driving to the nearby town of Alford where he had another four pints and several double vodkas and coke.
Then, during the early hours he had a large glass of wine before downing a second large glass half an hour before setting off with Scott Lawrie, 37, and the two teenagers.
Hayter twice almost went off the road within minutes of setting off and then forced an oncoming pick-up onto the verge when he took a bend on the wrong side of the road.
