Mother says justice failed after army trainee avoids jail for fatal BMW crash
Kelly Kennard says the system let down her daughter after 18-year-old army trainee Joseph Pickett received a suspended sentence for the crash that killed Laionie Kennard in Bournemouth.
In September 2023, Laionie Kennard was killed in Bournemouth when Joseph Pickett, an 18-year-old army trainee, lost control of his BMW 1 Series and struck trees, traveling well above the 30 mph limit. The crash followed a text from Laionie warning her mother about Pickett’s driving, and Pickett had earlier drunk a bottle of Henry Weston's cider and failed a roadside breath test. At Poole Magistrates’ Court he admitted causing death by careless driving and received a 10-month prison sentence suspended for two years, a two-year driving disqualification, £232 in costs and 250 hours of unpaid work.
Kelly Kennard, Laionie’s mother, said her daughter was “completely failed” by the justice system. The Dorset coroner, Brendan Allen, noted Pickett’s limited experience, especially at night and on rural roads, and will issue a prevention-of-future-deaths report to the Department for Transport and the Ministry of Defence, which said service personnel offences are dealt with through disciplinary processes.
Why it matters
The case raises questions about how military training and sentencing policies affect road safety and accountability.
In this story
