A 13-year-old boy has been sentenced to two years in custody at a young offenders’ institution for causing the death of a grandmother by dangerous driving.
Marcia Grant was run over with her own car in Greenhill, Sheffield, on 5 April.
The offender, who was 12 at the time and cannot be named for legal reasons because of his age, was sentenced at Sheffield Crown Court on Wednesday.
The court heard how the boy ran over Mrs Grant outside her home despite the frantic attempts of her husband, Delroy, to stop him.
The judge, Mrs Justice May, described the victim as the “shining lodestar” of her family.
“You made a bad choice,” the judge told the boy as she passed sentence. “You knew that taking her car was wrong.”
She said the offence “was serious but it was not murder”, and the prosecution had accepted the boy did not mean to harm Mrs Grant.
“It was a very bad accident,” the judge added.
The court heard the boy had never driven before and struggled to control the Honda Civic when he reversed into Mrs Grant, knocking her over and driving over her.
He fled the scene saying “sorry, sorry”. When he was arrested after trying to run away from police, he told a policewoman: “I’m going to f****** kill your family you b**** and I don’t give a f***.”
The boy asked officers: “Is she dead?” before saying: “It was an accident, I swear,” five minutes later.
The child pleaded guilty to causing the death of the 60-year-old at a hearing at the city’s youth court last month.
A charge of murder was dropped by prosecutors when they accepted the plea.
Describing the incident, prosecutor Gary Crothers told that hearing the boy said “looks like I got my first kill” to police afterwards.
Mr Crothers said: “At around 7pm on the evening in question this defendant is seen on CCTV attempting to take Mrs Grant’s car.
“Mrs Grant tries to stop him by going behind the car.
“On CCTV, the vehicle is driven slightly erratically at this time and it does come to a stop.
“Mrs Grant positions herself behind the vehicle. The vehicle reverses, causing her to fall on her back and her head impacts with the ground.
“She was trapped under the vehicle, her husband tried to break the window of the car to get the defendant out of the car.”
The prosecutor said the vehicle then reversed “at some speed causing the catastrophic injuries to Mrs Grant”.
The youth claimed to have been a gangster since aged nine.
In a prepared statement to police, the defendant said he was taking the car so that he could drive to see his mother.
Mrs Grant’s family released a statement after her death, describing her as a “warm, loving and dedicated wife, mother, grandmother, sister and friend and a pillar of her community”.
Her daughter, Gemma Grant, said her mother “wanted to pull the world into a hug, lend a hand and raise the spirits of anyone facing adversity”.
Detective chief inspector Andrea Bowell said on Wednesday: “Since Marcia’s death our thoughts have been with her family and friends after she was taken from them in the most difficult of circumstances.”
She added: “Her death has had a profound effect on everybody who loved her.
“Although the criminal justice process has concluded today, I’m aware this brings no resolution or closure for Marcia’s friends and family.
“They will continue to grieve their tremendous loss and will do so for the rest of their lives.”