'She's destroyed my daughter's life': Dad speaks out after 104mph driver jailed
The father of a woman seriously injured after her car was hit by a speeding motorist in Oldbury has said the incident had "destroyed" her life.
Charlotte Whittle, known as Lotte, was returning home to Quinton, Birmingham, in her Kia Venga with her 20-month-old daughter, Harper, on May 8, 2019.
Her car was struck on Wolverhampton Road, in Oldbury, as she attempted to turn right onto the Queensway by Leanne Webb's speeding Audi SQ5.
The Audi had been travelling at 104mph in a 40mph zone and the collision, which Webb was found guilty of, left Miss Whittle with brain injuries.
Now her father Richard Whittle, who lives in Halesowen, has spoken of the impact on the family after Webb, from Kings Norton, was locked up.
Mr Whittle said his daughter was returning home to her house in Quinton after visiting Matalan in Oldbury to buy her daughter a new swimsuit for her upcoming summer holiday.
He said: "The emotional period for us [as a family] was when she [Webb] decided to drag everyone through a trial. She was convicted last month and Friday was just the end of a chapter.
"I think, on balance, it was a fair sentence. She has destroyed this woman, has destroyed Lotte's life, and it's harmed the family greatly. It was just lies after lies from her and the thing that hurt the most was when she said it was Lotte's own 'f***ing fault' for pulling out in front of her.
"I found out [what had happened] on the day when the police came to my workplace. They took me in a police car with blue lights flashing, first to Birmingham Children's Hospital [to see Harper] and then to the Queen Elizabeth Hospital [to see Lotte].
"It was heartbreaking – I never thought this could happen, I always thought these sorts of things happen to other people. Lotte was in a coma and the doctors wouldn't be drawn on whether she would survive or not, we were told all we could is wait."
Mr Whittle said his daughter's life had been difficult ever since the collision – she was in a coma for over a month, was in the Queen Elizabeth Hospital for seven months and then went to Moseley Hall Hospital for further treatment. She was transferred into a care home for rehabilitation but "couldn't fit" into the setting and is now being looked after at another hospital.
The 77-year-old said the family are extremely thankful for the efforts of the fire service and NHS staff – and the family expected "many years" of rehabilitation for Lotte to get through.
He added: "It seems Lotte has been punished by losing two years of her life and we hope with rehabilitation she will get some more speech back and have some sort of decent quality of life – she struggles to communicate and she's unable to care for her daughter which is very hard.
"Harper is given as much love by all sides of her family as possible; she's fully recovered and the last thing her mother did for her whilst she was still of sound mind, was to secure her tightly into the car seat which we think, looking at the photographs of the accident, saved her life.
"Lotte was an estate agent and she was a very very active mom. She was very very active at work and was climbing the ladder. She had landed another job and she was doing very, very well and had a wide circle of friends and was very very outgoing. We're just glad the trial and sentencing is now over. We can see many years of rehabilitation for Lotte so we're supporting her as much as we can so she can get the quality of life she deserves.
"We're so thankful for the fire service and the team at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital who undoubtedly saved her life."
