Overview

• A Chelmsford Crown Court jury found that Morgan Kiely, then 19, was grossly negligent for not strapping her son Harry into his seat before the July 2022 collision.
• Harry was ejected through an open window when the Ford Focus driven by Stevie Steel, who was over the drink-drive limit, hit a parked car and rolled onto its roof.
• Prosecutor Alex Stein told jurors that Kiely’s decision to travel with an intoxicated driver and to leave her baby unsecured breached her duty of care and met the legal test for gross negligence manslaughter.
• Judge Robert Jay imposed a two-year prison term suspended for two years, noting that Kiely’s lapse was a single failure in an otherwise attentive record as Harry’s mother.
• Stevie Steel, who pleaded guilty to causing death by careless driving while over the limit, is scheduled for sentencing in the coming months.