Heartbroken mum visits jailed drink driver who killed her son and his girlfriend in horror smash
A DISTRAUGHT mum has met with the drink driver who killed her son and his girlfriend in a car crash to tell him she forgives him.
William Wilson crashed head-on with Stephen Donnelly, 26, and his girlfriend Mandy Gold, 21, as they were driving home from a family wedding three years ago.
Wilson was twice the legal alcohol limit at the time, and claims he cannot remember anything about the incident.
He was heading home from a traveller’s fair when he drifted to the wrong side of the dual carriageway on June 27, 2013.
He was sentenced to eight years in prison after admitting to death by dangerous driving.
Three years on, Mr Donnelly’s devastated mum Sue, 57, has met with her son’s killer face-to-face in prison.
She spoke of the meeting: "We were really, really scared about meeting him.
"Prison is a really formidable place and you don't expect to go there so you're not prepared for it, especially to meet the man who's been responsible for killing your son.
"We were treated with courtesy and given a room by the chaplain which was comfortable and the warder stayed with us all the time.
"They brought William in and he was asked to explain what happened that night. He didn't contradict what he said in court.
"He was truly repentant and was really sorry for what he'd done.
"He did a stupid and foolish thing but he is not a bad man.
“It was a massive error of judgement.
"Because of what we went through you have to hope that the restorative justice will help him to build a positive life."
Speaking on Wilson’s upcoming release in 2017, mum Sue said: "Him coming out of prison is not something I think about, it's not relevant to my life in any way really.
"I felt that he was a man who understood the gravity of what he'd done and is a changed man.
"I saw a man of remorse who was prepared to say sorry and recognised the damage he'd done to our lives and Mandy's family.
"It was hugely emotional.
"Time is not a healer.
“The grief doesn't go away, the pain doesn't go away.
"But the fact that William was able to say sorry to us and we were able to offer him forgiveness was important to us.
"It was very intense but it was a release for us, if you like, a letting go of that part of things.
"It doesn't bring Stephen back but Stephen would have told us to do that, he would have been up for that and believed that was right.
"He was everything any mother could have wanted."
The grief doesn't go away, the pain doesn't go away
Sue Donnelly
She agreed to meet with Wilson as part of restorative justice, which brings those harmed by crime or conflict and those responsible for the harm into communication.
The practice allows offenders to admit responsibility for their actions so both parties may find a positive way forward.
Sue commented on the restorative practice: "I think the word restorative is a very big word.
"When you restore something you attempt to put it back to how it should be.
"Justice has to be served by the courts so you can't take away the sentencing and punishment.
"I'm not in favour of a 'locking someone in prison and throwing away the key' type of approach.
"Sanctions have to be applied but you want justice to be done to both parties and if they want to restore things in some way then it's an excellent process.
"There isn't another one to match it.
"It's an extremely positive procedure and it doesn't have to involve people saying sorry and forgiving each other, but it's facing up to what you're doing.
"We felt there was no point in a third life being cut off in prison."
We pay for your stories! Do you have a story for The Sun Online news team? Email us at [email protected] or call 0207 782 4368.