Remorseless driver jailed over the death of Bury schoolgirl Ruby Cropper

A "remorseless" and "arrogant" driver who mowed down and killed a schoolgirl at twice the speed limit before fleeing the scene has been jailed.

Andrew Cairns, 36, was weaving in and out of traffic in his Suzuki Alto seconds before ploughing into Ruby Cropper on 10 August 2020.

The 11-year-old, who was crossing the road with a friend to play in Coronation Park in Radcliffe, Greater Manchester, was thrown 46 feet when she was struck.

Witnesses say Cairns was driving '50-60mph' on a 30mph road, with crash experts concluding that if he had been driving the speed limit he would not have hit Ruby.

The defendant, who had previous driving-related convictions, left Ruby dying in the road and sped off.

Ruby, who had broken 33 bones, was treated at the scene by the emergency services and was taken to hospital, but died two days later.

A post-mortem examination concluded her death was "primarily due to brain injury" which was attributed to the crash.

Cairns, who gave himself up shortly after, admitted causing death by careless driving on August 10, 2020.

But he was convicted unanimously by a jury of the more serious charge of causing death by dangerous driving and sentenced on Thursday, 17 February 2022 to five years in prison.

He has also been disqualified from driving for seven years.

Just six months after the crash, Cairns was caught speeding at 98mph on the M62. Judge Smith told the defendant he had an "arrogant entitlement to drive at excessive speed".

Cairn's covered his ears while Ruby's mother, Shelley Booth, read out her victim impact statement.

"The sight of seeing her unconscious and dying in front of me is the worst thing I have ever had to deal with", she said.

"We lay with her and played her favourite music, took her hand and footprints, told her how much we loved her and were there until her last breath."

Ruby was a "life-saver" through organ donation to three other people after her death and £17,000 had been raised for North West Air Ambulance in her name.

Shelley said: "Our brave, selfless girl saved three people with her kidneys and her liver. They have frozen her heart valves for possible matches in the future."

Her father Ian Cropper spoke of his "unbearable pain", adding: "She made me happy when I was sad. She was my everything and it's hard to put into words the loss I feel.

"I will never heal from this. I will never recover from this."