Widower whose wife and son were killed by speeding driver in Derbyshire says he should have got life
A widower whose wife and son were killed in a head-on crash caused by a speeding driver in Derbyshire believes the man who took his family’s lives should have been jailed for life. Billy Boyack said his son Stephen, who died in the horror smash caused by Joshua Hill, “didn't want to drive a car because he knew he would be killed in a car crash.”
The 22-year-old suffered catastrophic injuries in the collision and later died in hospital but his mother and Mr Boyack’s wife, Angela, died at the scene on the A632 as they drove home from a holiday in Matlock. In June, Hill was jailed for 13 years at Derby Crown Court after admitting causing their deaths through dangerous driving.
Mr Boyack, 62, told Yorkshire Live: “At the end of the day he has killed two people. It should be life. It makes me angry.
READ MORE:Derbyshire County Council phone line tells parents of SEN children not to call
READ MORE:Derbyshire police chief constable to 'retire' before rejoining force in same position a month later
“He knows he is wrong and has devastated a community up here. He pleaded guilty three weeks before the sentence.
"We waited five-and-a-half months for him to plead guilty. We know he was pleading guilty to get time off his sentence. He denied driving dangerously."
At June’s sentencing hearing, Derby Crown Court heard how Mr Boyack and his other son Alex watched as a Hyundai containing Stephen and Mrs Boyack was hit head-on by a BMW X3 being driven by 27-year-old Hill who overtook another car dangerously and ploughed into it.
The pair ran to the scene and desperately tried to get to them but Mrs Boyack was declared dead at the scene of the incident near Matlock, on December 9, 2023, three days before her 60th birthday. Stephen was taken to the Queen’s Medical Centre, but also died as a result of the injuries he sustained.
Jailing Hill, of Wheata Road, Sheffield, for 13 years, Judge Jonathan Straw said: “Your driving was cavalier and reckless in terms of speeds in those conditions. You were playing automotive Russian roulette. You should not have been in Derbyshire at all that day as you were on police bail and a condition of it was not to enter the county, but there you were.
"William and Alex desperately tried to help as did others. You did not, you took to your heels, went back to Sheffield and went to ground."
Mr Boyack said the family had been staying at a holiday cottage in Matlock to celebrate Mrs Boyack’s upcoming birthday and were on their way home to South Shields in separate cars when the crash happened. He told how he had first met his library assistant wife in 1983 and they married six years later. He said: "We got together on Valentine's Day in 1984. I had been asking to go out with her for about a year.
"She started at the library in her 20s. People had gone there and then taken their children and grandchildren to get their books off her. She used to do craft sessions for kids. She was so popular. She knew who liked what kind of story and she would keep books aside for them.
"People come up to me and ask if I'm Billy because they had known her from the library, or had met Stephen. People speak to me and I have never met them but they had touched their lives."
Mr Boyack said Stephen worked as a trainee purchaser at Washington Components in the north east and it was when his former employer relocated to Durham that Stephen took his driving test, although he did not want to. He said: "He said he didn't want to drive a car because he knew he would be killed in a car crash.
"I said, 'don't be stupid. Car crashes happen to other people. If you drive safely you will be as safe as you can be'."
Stephen went on to pass his test and buy his Hyundai and was a safe driver, his father said. He said while on the A632 Stephen was "doing 45mph". He said: "It was perfectly clear in front and a car pulled out from behind a car coming towards us and went straight into it."
The collision was caught on Mr Boyack’s dashcam, he said. He said his son Alex is "devastated" by his mum and brother's deaths, and he himself is suffering flashbacks and bad dreams.
He said he has since found out the road has been branded "flying mile" and is a "hot spot" for speeding and he believes the road should have average speed cameras, and said a local group is pushing Derbyshire City Council to put them in place.