The Woodward family was left devastated when daughter Kelly was killed in a car crash caused by her friend, Andrew Burrell.

Now, almost two years on, Kelly's mother Jan is still campaigning for drivers to start their ban from the roads after they finish their prison term.



GRIEVING mum Jan Woodward has shown tremendous strength in the past 21 months.

Most mums might want to grieve in peace after the death of their daughter.

But Jan has never let up in her campaign.

Jan's daughter Kelly was killed in June 2006, aged 19, when she was a passenger in a car being driven by Andrew Burrell, now 21.

The car crashed on Marsh House Avenue, in Billingham, close to Kelly's Windlestone Road home.

Burrell was drunk at the wheel. He sentenced to 30 months in prison, but Jan successfully appealed to have this increased to four-and-a-half years.

However, Burrell, who was also sentenced to a five-year driving ban, could be behind the wheel in a matter of months of being released from prison.

That's because the current law says driving bans run at the same time as a prison sentence.

After Burrell's sentence was increased, Jan, 51, began a fight to get justice for Kelly and to make sure convicted bans on drink-drivers ran consecutive to a prison sentence, and not concurrent.

Teesside Crown Court heard Burrell was twice over the drink drive limit and speeding when he crashed into a tree on Billingham's Marsh House Avenue.

Jan said: "The country just sits back and takes what the Government dishes out. It's about time the Government realised they've got to stop the carnage on the roads and this has got to be changed."

Since then Jan has given countless interviews and received endless amounts of letters of support as she battles to get the law changed.

Jan says she is getting strength to spearhead the campaign from Kelly herself.

"It's Kelly. It's her that I get the strength from," said Jan, a finance collector.

"Everybody says you're so brave but I'm not brave inside. Every time I do an interview, I churn and churn."

Kelly, who had just passed a hairdressing course at Hartlepool College of Further Education, lived at home with her mum and dog Molly.

Jan said: "Kelly was lovely and she got on with everybody. Everybody loved her smile. She lit the room up.

"She had her whole life ahead of her, but now she can't get married or have kids and I won't have grandkids from her. It makes me angry.

"My sons were very protective of her, they adored her."
Jan praised her sister, Sue Parker, and Sue's daughter, Sarah Lunnon, also from Billingham, who have been helping with the campaign and her two sons Wayne and Lee who helped.

She said: "My sister has really been my rock. She does anything that's needed.

"My sons live down south but they have both been collecting signatures."

Jan's son Lee, who lives in Worcester and works as a senior auditor, said: "Mum's taken a lot on board. She's promoting the campaign through various TV stations, radio stations and newspapers. Even the politicians have taken it on board.

"She's done very well. She's a mini celebrity.

"I'm 100 per cent behind her, she's doing a superb job.
"She's well-focused on achieving this and hell-bent on changing the law."

Lee, 31, who is father to two-and-a-half-year-old Ben, added: "Even now, not a day goes by when you can't help but still think of Kelly - particularly this year when she would have been 21.

"Even little things you think of. Like when she would text or ring asking some trivial thing like the name of a band she wanted to download a tune from.

"That was the last conversation I had with her."

Wayne, a 29-year-old croupier living in London, added: "Every time I would visit, Kelly was always there waiting to open the door.

"She would give me a cuddle and a kiss and be crying.
"She would do anything for anyone and she wouldn't ask for anything in return."

Wayne, whose 16-month-old daughter Kirsten was born five months after Kelly's death, said: "I just wish she got to see her."

Jan's sister, Sue, 52, said: "Jan's been so brave and so strong. I don't think I could do it.

"I just hope she can achieve what she's set out to achieve. If it saves one life it'll all be worthwhile. It's helping Jan, even though she struggles, the same as we all do."

Sue added: "Kelly loved shopping and handbags and shoes. We always used to go out for meals."

Sue's daughter, Sarah, 30, said she and Kelly were more like sisters than cousins.

She said she was "challenging all my energy into this, especially at roadshows, where you get to see people's reactions. If they come away with something and it helps just one family it'll be worth it."

To find out more about the campaign, visit www.kellycampaign.com.