The families of Ben Corfield and Liberty Charris speak after the sentencing of Dhiya Al Maamoury.

Express & Star

The families of Ben Corfield and Liberty Charris who were killed after a horrific collision speak out at Wolverhampton Crown Court after the sentencing of Dhiya Al Maamoury.

Transcript

00:00Outside Wolverhampton Crown Court for the sentencing of Dia Al-Mamouri who has

00:06been admitted dangerous driving causing the death of Ben Caulfield and Liberty

00:12Charisse in 2022. Judge Michael Chambers has sentenced him to 13 and a half years

00:19on two counts of that to run concurrently and 32 months in prison for

00:26causing injury by dangerous driving two counts there also to run concurrently so

00:31he's going to spend over 14 years in prison. Judge Michael Chambers said he

00:38carried out a highly dangerous maneuver in his favor he said it was a

00:44short duration not sustained but he had to go to the higher range of sentencing.

00:49Okay today hasn't brought a conclusion for myself and my wife and our daughter

00:56Shannon. Al-Mamouri killed our son Ben. Ben was the very foundation and the thing

01:02that we live for as a family. He's not only that he's stolen our future and he

01:07served us a life sentence of which has got no end but we we appreciate and we

01:13thank Judge Chambers for his deliverance today. You know the sentence is

01:18a lot better than what we thought. We also want to thank the local policing

01:26team that have been a great support to us through West Midlands Police, the

01:30liaison officers. We want to thank Detective Sergeant Paul Hughes and his

01:35team, his investigation team. Without them then we wouldn't have got the

01:40conviction that we have today and as you've seen in court today Al-Mamouri

01:45loyed at his first instance when he was he was interviewed by the police. He then

01:51went on to plead not guilty to force us as a family then through a six months of

01:58total trauma but now with you know with the great help that the investigation

02:02team have done we've got the conviction that we need and as I say West Midlands

02:07Police have been an absolute tremendous support and are just a few of the

02:11officers really that I want to thank personally. PC Emma Howes is one of the

02:16liaison officers, PC Jay Moore, PC Leah Smith and especially PC Lee Stevens

02:23who's been on the phone 24 hours a day for us. He's been a great support even in

02:29his time off he's been available to speak to us and we really appreciate that

02:33coming forward.

02:35Do you have anything to say about car meets like this?

02:39The meet that this person was at and what he was doing?

02:43Yeah I mean you know we've all seen these type of car meets advertised out there.

02:48They're a scourge of the earth you know they're a danger to all road users and

02:53you know they seem to have over the last certainly over the last 12 months 18

02:58months seem to have progressed but certainly the incident that happened at

03:02Albury that took Ben's life there is an injunction in place now and West Midlands

03:07Police are certainly making a strong stance on that to stamp this practice

03:12out you know you should be able to as a pedestrian be safe and you should be

03:18awarded that safety and we you know we applaud the work that West Midlands

03:21Police are doing to stamp that out.

03:24I heard the incredibly powerful and emotional witness statements from your family and

03:29Liberty's family. Just if you can, I know it's difficult, explain the impact that

03:35this has had on you because we we heard some of that in there.

03:39I mean for Lynette and I and our daughter Shannon this is totally devastating you know we had

03:43Shannon you know quite easily we never thought we wanted a we wanted a son and

03:48daughter we never we never thought that we'd have a have a problem having

03:51another child and as life played out it was seven years you know we got to the

03:58stage where we we seeked help we were about to start fertility treatment and

04:03two weeks prior to starting that treatment Lynette felt unwell and as I

04:08said in the court you know we we took her to the local doctors to check her

04:13she was pregnant and obviously they forwarded us then on for scans which

04:19didn't didn't show a pregnancy so we had a very uncertain time then for the next

04:24three or three or weeks forward where another scan did show that Ben was on his

04:28way it was a miracle to us you know and and to have that you know Shannon to

04:32have a brother to care for you know Ben completed our little family and as I say

04:39with that you know we waited for so long for him that we he was the foundation of

04:43our lives he was the the very thing that the three of us lived for and now with

04:47this with this Alma Warry's actions he's taken our lives away the pain and

04:54devastation as a father and a mother and obviously as a sister now you know

04:59we can't settle day or night you know we wake up and we're looking for him we're

05:05calling for him you know the very the very instance of what we live for now is

05:09gone and as I said to you now you know Alma Warry's been been given his

05:14sentence today but we've got a life sentence and that life sentence has got

05:18no end you know we've got to deal with that now for whatever time that we've

05:22got left in the world you know we will never see Ben again in our lifetime and

05:26it's this pain is absolutely excruciating. No sentence is ever going to

05:31be enough and that man has completely destroyed our lives

05:40I think if people realize just what they're doing on these street racing and

05:46and the impact that it has on families far and wide I'd certainly think twice

05:53about it

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