Tiktokker, 18, who killed two friends in crash will serve just seven months in jail

Sat in the dock with all eyes from the packed public gallery fixed on her, Madeleine Lonsdale looked like she could burst into tears at any moment.

The 18-year-old’s barrister assured those watching her ‘regret’ at causing the deaths of friends Harrison Carter, 18, and George Stephenson, 17,‘will weigh heavily on her for the rest of her life’.

They were passengers in her car when she crashed it into a tree on a pitch-black country road while ‘racing’ a pal at speeds of up to 100mph in the early hours last June 20.

Defending, John McNally told Lincoln Crown Court: ‘Her friends will remain, and are, in her thoughts.’

But the mothers of those two friends told the court that far from expressing any remorse, Lonsdale only ‘added insult to injury’ with her behavior after the crash that killed their sons.

While they planned funerals, Lonsdale partied ‘repeatedly’ and choreographed TikToks.

Harrison’s mum Sarah Carter said he had not long finished his A-levels and wanted to be a lawyer one day.

She said: ‘Harry was taken from us because Madeleine chose to speed.

‘He will never be able to celebrate the amazing exam results that he achieved.’

Victoria Stephenson, George’s mother, told the court: ‘We will never see him graduate or find a job after university.

‘We didn’t get to celebrate his 18th birthday with him, instead we had his funeral.’

She said that when Lonsdale went on a skiing trip, delaying her first court appearance by two weeks, it ‘only added to the torment’.

Lonsdale pleaded guilty to two counts of causing the teenagers’ deaths by careless or inconsiderate driving.

She was handed a sentence of 14 months’ detention – meaning she could be out in just seven.

Prosecutor Steven Taylor told the court that Mr Carter and George set off as passengers in Lonsdale’s Kia Niro in the early hours of the morning to go to an Esso petrol station off the A1.

Mr Taylor said: ‘She took a left turn down a rural country road and … down that road for a distance, evidently accelerated to over 70mph.

‘In due course she failed to negotiate a right-hand bend further along the road.’

He added: ‘It appears she misjudged the distance to the first bend and failed to slow down at all on her approach.’

The court heard that the car was travelling at 76mph seconds before it collided with the tree in Toll Bar Road and then landed on its side.

The unlit road was subject to a 60mph limit, Mr Taylor said, and a sign warned of the upcoming bend.

Mr Carter was in the front passenger seat while George had been sitting directly behind him in the rear of the car.

‘Both tragically suffered fatal injuries in the crash and were pronounced dead at the scene,’ Mr Taylor said.

The court heard Lonsdale had a relatively minor injury to her wrist.

Another car driven by a teenage friend was following Lonsdale’s vehicle but managed to avoid the collision, the prosecutor told the court.

Mr Taylor said Lonsdale and the other driver decided to ‘see how fast their respective vehicles could go’ and ‘effectively raced each other’ before the crash, briefly travelling at 100mph on the A1.

Lonsdale was disqualified from driving for three years.

Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at webnews@usnewsrank.com.

For more stories like this, check our news page.