Reconvicting fatal drink driver 8 years later | Monika's long road to justice (distressing content)
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- Опубліковано 11 чер 2024
- In 2016, Lewis Heslop mounted the pavement and struck Monika Lewandowska at 40mph, causing her a catastrophic head injury. He was uninsured, without a license, and under the influence of alcohol.
Monika tenaciously clung to life for six years and needed round-the-clock care every day. Heslop served 4 years for causing serious injury by dangerous driving.
He was released before she died.
Believing that justice had not been fully served, Durham Constabulary officers reopened the investigation to prove Heslop was responsible for Monika’s death, and to reconvict him for the weightier offence of causing death by dangerous driving.
An investigation that took detectives from Darlington to Poland, and from neuropathologists to the Attorney General, this is the story of their long fight for justice.
!["Death by dangerous driving" | Drink driver hears the worst possible news [Start Listening Part 3]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/jIRwvVpCD8A/mqdefault.jpg)
Big respect to the Durham Constabulary for putting this content out; setting an example for other counties. Wish my home county would actually attend drink & drug driver reports!
RIP Monika and well done Durham police for the effort you all put in to bring the guilty to justice
What a brilliant video! Well done to Durham Constabulary Roads Policing team for going above and beyond expectations. As a retired RPU patrol officer, I take my cap off to your team, for bringing closure to Monika's family.
So proud of Durham Constabulary, and all our police service. Thank you from the bottom of my heart.
Respect to the team for following this through. Thoughts to the Monikas family. And what a great act to visit the family. The Grandmas statement "Someone else cared" summed up why this was an appropriate thing to do.
This is what I don't understand, someone got 17 years + 21 yr driving ban for killing a mother and her child speeding and drink driving w/o any driving documents; but he gets 3 years? 7 years total.
Let this be a lesson to the selfish few that continue to drink and drive, eventually you will have to Pay, RIP Monika.
Huge thanks for the Durham Police doing a what must have been a harrowing job. Excellent work looking after the interests of the Lewandowska family.
I cannot put into words how tragic this case is for Monika and her family. I am full of admiration for those officers involved in getting the offender convicted twice.
Feel sorry for the family, I myself almost lost my life 2 years ago, I was in the car driving but I do not remember anything I do not remember entering the car park or the car all I remember was shortly before was finishing my job and I am supposed to drive to my mom's and dad's place to have a lunch. The next thing I remember I woke up at hospital, not knowing what happened and how it happened, no witnesses, to daschams, not cctvs, police could not find the reason why it happened. There was another car involved but the other person was fine. My family was told to come to hospital to say goodbye. The doctors working on me have done amazing job, to the point of me returning to pretty much normal life, even though the doctors first thought I lost my eye and then that the injury to my brain will most likely cause me to be paralyzed, not able to speak or understand or recognise faces etc. I can walk, talk, understand, recognise faces I just lost 2 weeks of being in a coma, I mean I had some good "dream" but it did not feel like 2 weeks, more like 2 hours.
Fantastic job.
I am the other sort of driver: as soon as I get in my car, I enable the automatic speed limit recognition system, the speed limiter and adaptive cruise control. No matter where I’m driving, I keep my speed down and on the motorway, I set my speed to 56 and stay in the left hand lane.
As an outsider looking “in” at all the dangerous idiots tailgating and road raging in the fast lane (usually at ridiculous speeds) I realise just how big of a problem we have in this country with reckless and aggressive drivers and I always think to myself: “if they drive like that normally, what the hell are they like with a few drinks inside them?!!”
I usually have my daughter in the car with me and sticking to the left hand lane is - I feel - the only way I can keep us both safe from the idiots.
Britain's impotent justice system allows this to continue. The penalties for killing someone by drink driving, dangerous driving or drugged driving are pathetic and does absolutely zero to deter.
RIP Monika.
The maximum sentence changed a couple of years ago. Causing death by dangerous driving - Maximum: life imprisonment for offences committed after 28 June 2022; otherwise it's 14 years custody. With drink being a factor would put the offence in category A of the sentencing guidelines. As this offence took place before the change date the lower maximum applies.
@@Jb-tl1yi Life imprisonment!
Life imprisonment in the UK, triple killers released, THAT says it all about Life imprisonment UK style.
On the 19th April this year was out on my push bike when a car drove into me and sped off. I spent 3 weeks in hospital with a broken pelvis, a broken leg, torn muscles and some serious bruising. The pain indescribable. Now in a wheelchair for i don't know how many months, lost my job, can't get any financial support, nothing and now in debt and behind with bills. Incident caught on CCTV, full blame on the car for dangerous driving. The driver and car? Can't be traced. Number plate doesn't belong to the car it was on and the number plate was from a scrapped vehicle. Ok, i'm alive, unlike Monika, but the system does indeed suck and it's just not good enough.
@@tilerman So sorry to hear what happened to you man, reading this, my faith in the judicial system and just financial supports systems go down, cant you get a disability credit?
@@WarczysB Nothing, not a penny. Apparently my wife earns over the threshold that which makes us not eligible for any kind of support, and trust me, she doesn't earn much. I'm 59, been working since i was 14 and self employed since i was 23. I haven't stopped working and never once claimed a dime, ever. Always thought i was doing the right thing, i wished i hadn't bothered. I genuinely can't walk properly, and i can't sit down for long because of my injury but i am going to have to go to work, somehow. Without wanting to sound melodramatic, we are out of money, and now paying for basic shopping and bills on credit cards. How can this be.
These police have discovered what I have over many years. The Poles in general are special people. I have been to Poland many times now and love it.
So on good behavior he gets 3.5 years, (which he's already done) then his original sentence gets taken off? So does that mean he is being put behind for maybe a year tops?
Absolutely unthinkable. Well done to the officers and love to the family ❤️
So sad but it’s really great that the police helped so much.
This is so sad for the family of Monika and may she RIP, God bless her
Respect the family and Durham Constabulary . RIP Monika. To suffer that because of a selfish uncaring person is tragic. He should have been given a zero parole whole life sentence.
Sgt salter looks much different with no hair always respected him as a cop .
Well done for getting this persons punishment to maximum. So sad..
This could easily be stopped by fitting alcohol air detector combined with the seat weight sensors. Only 1 seat occupied and alcohol detected should equal automatic police notification. It's a very cheap device.
Although this terrible incident is very sad the sentence given out by our UK judical system is weak and an insult to the poor lady who he killed he should have been given a life term in prison her surviving family have a life sentence without her dont they 😢
FairPlay to cops - our kid’s an inspector - but sentencing is still a joke. Hislop should be locked up for a long time
Respect.
Its absolutely disgraceful the sentencing guidelines
May God bless you all
What was he in prison for ?
RIP Monika ❤🙏❤🙏❤
Powerful video hopefully people get the message! Sentence is a joke as usual in UK. Rip Monika❤
Don't criticise the police
I know that area of Darlington well. Takes some doing to turn off Gladstone street and end up in that position. Poor Lass 😢
Great police work let down by the justice system. Absolute joke of a sentence!
🕊️
As new HGV I SEE WVERY 5 MINUTES SOMONE NOT CONCENTRATING on rheir surroundings . E mail , ear plugs, entertainment.
Peopel need to keep senses switched on when on public road and surroundings. 360 degrees. We have also too many illegal motorists, unfit drivers on road. And poor enforcement.
Kev salta wow, it has been a while
If they would ban alcohol, many lives would be saved
If they would ban cars, many lives would be saved
@@oldbatwit5102 if we ban humans............
@@oldbatwit5102 If they would ban lives, many lives would be saved
i got 1 word for you and it's the US prohibition of the 1920s
@@JohnsonTheSecondhow’s that one word dude?😂
My heart goes out to Monika, her family and the police officers who had to deal with this incident. The law should be changed, anyone who is caught either drink/drug driving or seen using a mobile phone whilst driving should be given a lengthy prison sentence and a lifetime driving ban. That way they might sit up and think I've not just ruined my life but the victims lives too. I will have to live with this it's all my own fault for doing what I did.
He got off very lightly, hopefully this will change him for the better, so his whole life isn't a waste. But, he will likely revert to type.
I'll likely be unpopular here..... at what point are our police doing this for propaganda and their own interests? Durham Constabulary appear to be somewhat clouded in their judgement about remaining impartial and establishing truth, or is emotional blackmail part of policing now? There's a staute of limitations in most cases. He was apprehended, admitted it, and was imprisioned under due process in a timely manner at the time. This in no way condones Heslop's actions. Although I question mentioning his lack of insurance-anyone released from jail is effectively uninsurable, certainly if your earning a legitamate wage, so why bother with a licence? A catch 22 the law ignores. But.... if we can retrospectively prosecute grown adults who acted with gross negligence and whos negligence killed people... well theres 97 familes from Hillsborough who would no doubt be very interested in this new stance. Observing, even Heslop had the glimmer of decency to plead guilty not add conspiracy and perjury to a blotted copy book. Our law is damaged enough without engaging in emotional blackmail. Rip Monika and condolences to Poland.
He could hardly plead 'Not Guilty' could he? And, if it's to hard to get a licence or insurance, guess what, don't bloody drive a car! I haven't got a pilot's licence which is why I don't get pissed and fly a 747 into your house...
I admire you for having put an alternative point of view which is always valuable if it makes people think. Having thought I disagree with you for the following reasons -
- calling it propaganda and emotional blackmail is extremely subjective and just your interpretation. The death of an innocent pedestrian is emotive and emotional. Calling anything stemming from that 'emotional blackmail' seems odd to my mind.
- there is no statute of limitations in UK law apart from very minor offences.
- your point about not being able to get insurance may be true but is a reason to not drive not an excuse to drive without insurance. Same with your comment about 'why bother with a license?' although there is a disconnect between the two so I'm not sure what you meant there. Insurance and license are different things. It is anyway looking to sideline annoying restrictions on your life by just ignoring the law and blaming the law rather than your own actions. So it is not in my opinion a Catch 22 that the law ignores. It is a natural consequence of the law. I set off a speed camera last year going 35mph in a 30mph stretch. My insurance policy the following year was much higher as a consequence. Following your logic I should maybe have just not bothered getting insurance because the law had made it too expensive for me.
- he did well to plead guilty, I agree. But calling all the things he has done and the lives he has taken or permanently damaged 'a blotted copy book' trivialises his record somewhat. He's not a shop lifter.
Common throughout your post is the general idea of not taking personal responsibility for your actions, looking to blame outside forces for what you have done and assigning negative motives to those enforcing the law.
As the police always say it's rules for thee but not for we!