A driver high on crystal meth left two women terribly maimed. He will be free in just TWO years

 Add your view

Crystal meth-user Alberto Ramos, 33, left a mother and daughter with their legs severed after ploughing into a crowd of shoppers

Alberto Ramos, 32, was high on crystal meth - a stimulant also known as "go-fast" - when he lost control of his car and drove into a crowd of terrified shoppers.

In a scene of "horrific mayhem", he mowed down six pedestrians, including Victoria and Kayleigh Reeve, who were so badly injured that they both lost their right legs.

Ramos, who admitted dangerous driving, could be free in just two years because defendants have to serve only half their sentence.

Judge Geoffrey Rivlin criticised the jail term, saying it did not "permit the court to do justice for the general public or these victims in particular".

He added that the maximum sentence for dangerous driving is "out of line" with that for causing death by dangerous driving - 14 years.

Ramos, originally from Spain, had snorted a gram of crystal meth the night before the crash. The drug, proper name methamphetamine, can also be smoked or eaten and produces euphoria.

Ramos - who has three previous convictions for drug offences - later told how he had run out of crystal meth, and decided to meet his dealer to get some more.

Scroll down for more...

Police in Regent Street described seeing a 'tangled heap of bodies' after Ramos smashed into the shoppers last February

As he drove home through the 5pm Friday rush-hour traffic on London's Regent Street on February 16 last year, he lost control of his car.

On the pavement were 43-year-old Victoria Reeve from Pontefract, West Yorkshire, and her daughter Kayleigh, whom she had taken shopping as a 21st birthday treat.

As she was hit by the car, Mrs Reeve saw her foot being wrenched from her leg and lying 3ft away. Her daughter could not remember the crash.

Criticism: Judge Geoffrey Rivlin

A third victim suffered a broken left arm and ribs, while a fourth had serious foot and leg injuries. Two more pedestrians suffered severe bruising.

Ramos, of St John's Wood, North-West London, pleaded guilty at Southwark Crown Court to dangerous-driving and two counts of unlawful wounding.

He was also banned from driving for nine years. Sentencing him, Judge Rivlin warned of the dangers of crystal meth - which at the time of the incident had just been reclassified from a Class B to a Class A drug.

He said: "This drug is similar to amphetamines, but the effects are much stronger.

"It is a potent, dangerous stimulant which causes drivers to drift off the road and out of their lane. It also causes excessive sleeping and depressive symptoms."

Ramos admitted he had taken 'large amounts' of crystal meth before the collision

The judge told Ramos he accepted he had not meant to cause deliberate harm to anyone. But he said he could not ignore the fact that he had driven in such a central crowded area of the city under the influence or after- effects of the drug.

He added: "In my view, being unfit to control a car through drugs is a serious matter.

"At least three of your victims suffered serious injuries and feel at this time that their lives have been ruined by your driving."

After the hearing the Reeve family, who were in court, were too upset to talk about the sentence.

But their lawyers said: "Our clients are pleased Mr Ramos has got the maximum sentence under the guidelines set out by the law and they share the judge's view that this type of serious incident warrants the harshest sentence. They will now move on with the rest of their lives."

 

What's on today   What's on tomorrow

Receive our newsletter