A man who deliberately drove into a crowd of pedestrians in Shropshire, killing a 22-year-old woman, has been sentenced to life in prison.

Stephen McHugh, who has been given a minimum term of 18 years, was found guilty of murdering Rebecca Steer and attempting to cause grievous bodily harm to a male pedestrian.

The jury at Stafford Crown Court heard during the trial that McHugh had taken cocaine and downed six beers and 10 double shots of spirits before he drove his Volvo onto a footpath in Oswestry.

He had never had a driving licence which the judge said made the incident “even more of an outrage”.

Innocent bystander Ms Steer, from Llanymynech in Powys, Wales, was crushed underneath the vehicle near a takeaway shop.

The court heard Ms Steer died of “catastrophic injuries”.

She wanted to become a police detective and was in her final year of a criminal justice course at Liverpool John Moores University.

In a victim impact statement, Ms Steer’s mother described Rebecca as the “most loving, talented and kind-hearted person who you could have wished to know”.

In an earlier tribute, her family described her as “a pure joy” and added they all felt “lucky to have had her in our lives”.

Passing sentence on Friday, Mr Justice Andrew Baker said McHugh, originally from Fazakerley in Liverpool, treated the pedestrians “like they were human skittles”.

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The judge said that McHugh had reacted to verbal abuse directed at his erratic driving and “it could so easily have been much worse” for the group of pedestrians.

He added that for Ms Steer “it could not have been worse” and that she had a “future full of potential”.

The judge also ordered the destruction of Stephen McHugh’s Volvo.

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