Man given suspended sentence after crash that killed grandmother and granddaughter

A driver who caused the deaths of a grandmother and granddaughter after losing control of his vehicle last year has been handed a suspended jail sentence.

Rhys Miles, 23, of Hospital Road, Penpedairheol, was driving a white Ford Ranger, which collided with a blue Citroen C3 on Fochriw Road, on July 19, 2022.

In the Citroen was Denise Hughes, 79, and Justine Hughes, 30 – who both died at the scene – as well as Justine’s three-year-old son, who was injured.

Miles was sentenced on Monday July 24, 2023 at Cardiff Crown Court, where he pleaded guilty to causing death by careless driving.

He was given a 30-week jail sentenced, suspended for 15 months. He was also banned from driving for two years, given a 15-month community order, fined £750 and ordered to do 120 hours of unpaid work.

After Miles’ sentencing, the family of Denise and Justine issued a statement and said: “As a family we cannot begin to express the heartache we have felt since that day in July 2022 when Denise and Justine were killed in such tragic circumstances.

“In Denise we lost a wife, a mam, a grandmother, a great-grandmother, a woman who was the head of our family.

“In Justine we lost a daughter, a sister, a niece and a granddaughter, but what is even more heart breaking is her two beautiful children lost their mam.

“They will both miss so much by not being here and we will love and think about them every day.”

The statement continued: “We know that no sentence would ever be able to compensate us as a family for the loss we have experienced but at least now with the judge’s ruling today, we have some closure on this chapter.

“We would like to thank all the members of the public who stopped to help, the emergency services that attended on the day and tried so hard to save Justine and Denise and to the police who have worked hard to bring this case to court and provide us with support during it all.“

PS Shane Draper, from Gwent Police’s Serious Collision Investigation team, praised the “considerable strength” shown by the family and said: “This is a tragic case that has resulted in the needless loss of two lives and impacted the life of a young boy.”

He added: “Denise and Justine Hughes tragically lost their lives due to the irresponsible actions of Rhys Miles, who drove carelessly and lost control of his vehicle.”