Man who killed schoolgirl in car crash ‘blew kiss’ to mum after being jailed

A trader who killed a schoolgirl with his Bentley waved and blew a kiss to his mum as he was jailed for more than 12 years.

Edward Tully, 30, of Barnet, killed the 12-year-old girl – who can’t be named for legal reasons – in a horror crash after blowing £900 on champagne and getting into his £150,000 Bentley.

On August 20, 2022, the young girl had been out to get an ice cream from McDonald’s with her family in Barnet when their car was hit by Tully’s, who ran a red light.

The little girl was severely injured and died in hospital three days later. Her father, who wore a neck brace to last week’s hearing, suffered severe injuries, including two fractures to his spine.

The girl’s mother and brother escaped without major injuries, but have regular flashbacks.

The court heard Tully had been to a nightclub in Victoria, where CCTV showed him drinking ‘at least’ 20 times that evening. He then walked to his car and drove six miles home before smashing into the family’s vehicle.

The little girl’s mum and brother escaped the vehicle to call for help, at which point Tully was heard saying, ‘I am not going to stay here, we must go right now.’

As Tully left, a good samaritan had cut the girl’s seat belt to pull her from the car and begin CPR. After fleeing the scene, cell phone data showed in court showed Tully went home and made multiple calls.

Days later, he handed himself into police in Colindale, but refused to provide a blood sample until he sought legal advice.

DNA analysis of the driver-side airbag allowed police to link him to the horror crash as a suspect.

Tully had already been disqualified from driving, after a previous incident which caught him speeding at 47mph in a 20mph zone in Regents Park.

The young girl’s brother told the court: ‘I feel like life could be over now. Nothing I do is with emotion. I have just been living. I feel really angry my little sister did not get to do what she wanted to do and what she loved.’

The girl’s mum cried: ‘Life felt so complete and we were content and happy with the progress we were making. I miss her so much, I miss her touch and her love. I miss everything about her.’

Her father said: ‘There is no desire to live now without my princess. I have been destroyed and feel so helpless. I wish I could have stayed at home that evening. I do not know how or when I will be able to live this way all the time. Now there is just suffering and nothing else.’

Tully’s lawyer, David Spens KC, said he was ‘genuinely and profoundly’ remorseful, but said there was no evidence of dangerous driving before the crash and that Tully does not accept driving through the red light deliberately.

Sentencing Judge John Lodge said Tully’s decision to drink drive had caused ‘immense and endless grief’ for the girl’s family, and called his fleeing the of the scene ‘callous’ and ‘cowardly’.

Tully blew a kiss to his mother and waved as he was jailed for 12 years on one count and two years and eight months a second.

He must serve two-thirds of his sentence before he is eligible for release, after which he is banned from driving for 13 years.

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