Mum gives statement after Darryl Anderson sentenced for A1(M) crash

Darryl Anderson was travelling twice the speed limit, was almost three times the drink drive limit, and was sending WhatsApps before crashing into Shalorna Warner’s car on the A1(M) between Chester-le-Street and Durham at about 3.15am on May 31.

She was the only survivor in her Peugeot. Her baby Zackary Blades and sister Karlene Warner, who she was picking up from Newcastle Airport where she’d landed and clocked off work as a flight attendant, were both killed instantly.

(L-R) Kieran Hutchinson and Karlene Warner. Jack Blades with son Zackary Blades and partner Shalorna Warner. (Image: FAMILY)

On Tuesday Judge Jo Kidd jailed Anderson for 17 years and three months, of which he will have to serve at least 11-and-a-half years. She also banned him from driving for a further 21-and-a-half years, or 258 months.

But speaking outside court Shalorna, who had bravely recalled the horrific moments before and after the crash, said the sentence does not make up for what her family have lost.

She told reporters gathered in the rain: “We were never going to be happy with our sentence today because it doesn’t make up for what we’ve lost but it’s the best it could have been.

Det Con Natalie Horner of Durham Police and Shalorna Warner, mum of eight-month-old Zackary Blades, speak to reporters outside Durham Crown Court. (Image: PA)

“The one thing I really hoped for was a lifetime driving ban which we didn’t get, but now we’re going to fight.

“He should never get in a car again and drive.

“No one should have to go through what we have gone through and if we can stop that next person, make them think twice then we’ve done some good.

“Please join us now in our justice for Zackary and Karlene and we will not stop. I will fight every single day that I am on this earth for them.”

Det Con Natalie Horner and Shalorna Warner speak to reporters on Tuesday (July 9). (Image: PA)

She also thanked police, paramedics, doctors and a lorry driver and doctor who stopped at the scene of the crash on the motorway to help find Zackary after he was flung onto the opposite carriageway in the smash and attempt to save him.

Detective Constable Natalie Horner added: “For his actions, Anderson will now spend a considerable time amount of time in prison but it is his victims and their family who have been handed the life sentences today.

“It is them who will spend the rest of their lives grieving the loss of their son, their daughter, their grandchild, their partner, their sister, and not forgetting a three-year-old little girl without a mammy.

The family come to speak to reporters outside Durham Crown Court (Image: PA)

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“I would like to take this moment to say thank you to the witnesses who came to this scene in the middle of the night and showed incredible bravery in how they acted, providing initial first aid to the victims and supporting Shalorna in her time of need.

“To Shalorna and her family who have shown truly unbelievable strength and humility throughout this ordeal under the most horrific circumstances, who must now attempt to rebuild their lives in the wake of their loss.

“Darryl Anderson’s name should now become a footnote in this tragic story. The people whose names we should remember and the people who should remain at the forefront of our thoughts are Karlene, they are Zackary, and they are their remarkable families.”