THE heartbroken mum of a young man killed by a drunk driver, who was filmed telling passengers to "f*** off" as they begged her to slow down, has slammed the woman as 'heartless'.
Chelsea Standage, 21, was sentenced to over eight years for causing the death of Elliott Lemm, 20, after she crashed into a wall at 70mph while driving under the influence of drugs and alcohol.
The 21-year-old was sentenced to eight years and eight months at Leeds Crown Court after the horror crash which followed a day of snorting cocaine and downing cider, beer, Jagerbombs and vodka.
In shocking video of the moments before the crash, a female passenger can be heard screaming, "Oi slow down,” and Standage responds “F*** off.” The passenger repeats "No I'm being serious slow down… help me she's going to die…Oh my God."
The driver then laughs and replies: "I'm only going 80 mile an hour f***king hell".
Another horrifying video is captioned: "We're only off 80 mile an hour. Mate she's never experienced a crash ahahahahahahahaha," while another social media post shows a bottle of Stella Artois on the dash of her car as she's driving.
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Not long after the videos were posted, Standage, who was found to have traces of cocaine and cannabis in her blood, raced into a wall at approximately 70 miles an hour, crushing Elliott to death.
Now grieving mum Samantha Lemm, from Featherstone, West Yorkshire, said “no sentence will ever be good enough” for the “hell” she and her family have suffered.
Tearful Samantha told The Sun: "Chelsea was over the prescribed limit of alcohol with drugs in her system.
"She hit the curb and went straight into a wall.
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"Elliott had his seatbelt on but he didn't stand a chance the way she was driving. He went straight into the wall and took the full impact.
"The videos of her telling everyone to ‘f*** off’ when they are begging her to slow down just make me feel sick.
"I went to ID Elliott’s body with Ian (his dad) and his aunty Vicky, he didn't have a chance of survival.
“He had a part of his spine bone missing and his ribcage had detached and gone into every organ you can imagine. He was crushed to death. There wasn’t one part of him left whole, except his heart.
“He was white as snow and so cold. Those images will never go out of my mind forever.
He had a part of his spine bone missing and his ribcage had detached and gone into every organ you can imagine….there wasn’t one part of him left whole, except his heart.
“Afterwards his body turned all black – he looked horrific. I had to put the lid on his coffin for his funeral because it would have been too upsetting for people to see.
“I want to share these awful details so people understand the impact of driving under drugs and alcohol.
"It's been horrific, one day we were paying for him to do his NVQ levels 2 and 3 and the next thing I'm going to ID his body.
'IN DENIAL'
"When I was in there I was adamant it wasn't him. I was in denial.
"I was begging and begging him to wake up. If I could have put my breath in him to give him my life I would have done in a heartbeat.
“I wanted to swap places with him. When I held his hand and realised he wasn’t waking up, I just dropped to the ground.”
Elliott only met Standage and her pals later at night back in November 2021 after spending the day at home, but social media videos from earlier in the evening show Standage and the group drinking, shouting and singing.
Samantha is adamant her son would not have got in the car had he known how much drink Standage had consumed.
She said: "He wasn't out drinking with them all day.
If I could have put my breath in him to give him my life I would have done in a heartbeat."
"He Face-timed me about 13 times that day and he wasn't there with them he was at home.
"Elliott was asleep on the sofa and planned to stay in but then he got a call from a male friend asking him to come out.
"He told his brother he was going out for an hour and he never came home.
"Usually he wouldn't have gone out if his brother was sleeping over.
"I know my own son, if he had known how much alcohol and drugs she had in her system, he wouldn't have got in the car.”
NO REMORSE
Samantha said her grief has been exacerbated by Standage's lack of remorse up until the court hearing – and lax laws which meant she was allowed back behind the wheel straight after the fatal crash.
"Even though the coroner took her bloods and showed she had drugs and alcohol in her system, she still got to keep her license until her court date came up," Samantha said.
"She was still allowed to drive and go out, there were no bail conditions.
“I’ve been sent pictures and videos of her going out clubbing, drinking, even a few weeks after she killed Elliott.
"I don't know how she was able to go clubbing when Elliott was here in an urn with us."
“She’s been enjoying her life, she's not apologised to us or any of the family, she's shown no remorse to us. She’s heartless.
"I don't know how she was able to go clubbing when Elliott was here in an urn with us.
"I asked the police how they could let this happen, but they said they don't have the powers to stop it.
"I went to my local MP’s office about it, they just said there was nothing they could do because we can’t let the police have too many powers. It doesn’t make sense.
'DESTROYED OUR FAMILY'
“Chelsea has absolutely destroyed our family and I will never forgive her, I have only hatred for her.
“No time she gets will be enough for me or my family. It is a life sentence for us. None of her family have ever apologised or offered any words of sympathy to us. I couldn’t live with myself if my child had done this to someone else.
“She’s going to come out of prison and live a normal life, have kids and have a whole life ahead of her. Elliott won’t.”
Samantha, who has multiple sclerosis, paid tribute to her "cheeky, caring boy" who worked as machine operator and was studying so he could fulfill a dream of working with kids in need and would often look after his mum when her condition flared up.
"Elliott was a bit of a one when he was young, like all lads, but he had turned his life around," Samantha said.
'MY BOY'
"He had a job and he had all these certificates and had his whole life ahead of him.
“We were going to go on our first holiday abroad all together – we won’t get to do that.
“We’d just took him Christmas shopping and got him an Armani tracksuit and we ended up burying him in it.
"He wanted to work with kids who had been hurt or gone through difficulties. He had hopes and dreams and they are all gone.
"I'm never going to have a grandchild. I'll never hold my son again.
“He’ll never get to go out with his friends or his brother.
"She hasn’t just killed Elliott, she’s killed me. I can describe it I’m being ripped apart inside."
"He was such a caring lad, last time I saw him he gave me a kiss on the head because he'd looked after me all night, giving me my meds all night. I was having a multiple sclerosis relapse.
"She hasn’t just killed Elliott, she’s killed me. I can describe it I’m being ripped apart inside.
Samantha says the bereavement has tore her entire family apart – especially Elliott's brother Leon, who was due to move in with his sibling before he died.
DEEPEST GRIEF
"This has ripped our family apart, his dad, aunty, his cousin, nana, were all devastated. We all broken. We are still in the deepest grief,” she said.
"The most precious thing you can ever have around your neck is not jewels, it's the arms of your children.
"It has broken his brother Leon apart, it's taken chunks out of him. He’s turned into a recluse – part of him has gone. It was Elliott and Leon against the world.
"They were doing the room up at Elliott’s flat together in neon blue and black so Leon could move in.
CHEEKY CHAPPY
"He was a cheeky chappy, always had a smile on his face. He had so many friends, from all over the country.
"Nothing will ever take away the pain of losing him.
"I still carry the guilt of having to decide whether to bury or cremate him. No mother should have to make that choice for their child.
"My sister has bought Elliott a star and we've called it 'My boy'.
“Thankfully I’ve had support from a charity called SCARD who help people like me who have lost loved ones in car crashes. They have helped me through some dark times."
Sentencing Standage yesterday, a judge told her: “This was a deliberate decision to ignore the rules of the road and you readily disregarded the safety of others and the danger caused to them.
“Your dangerous driving was both prolonged and persistent.”
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Standage's lawyer claimed she had been remorseful about the incident, saying: “Her life is, and will be in reality forever, haunted by her actions that evening.
"In my submission, that impact upon her is a reflection of what I submit is real and genuine remorse."
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