'Christmas not the same since Sharlotte's death'

The mother of a six-year-old girl killed by a drink-driver who had also taken drugs, said the family still could not celebrate Christmas without her, more than three years on.

Sharlotte Naglis died when John Owen's car mounted the pavement in Stoke-on-Trent in June 2021.

Owen, 44 at the time, was jailed for six years and two months in 2022 after admitting causing death by dangerous driving.

Sharlotte's mother Claire Reynolds said she still found it hard to "get out of bed every day and survive".

"I'm not the same mum that I used to be," she said. "There's things I can't do. We still don't celebrate Christmas."

Ms Reynolds was speaking as police forces around the country stressed the dangers of drink and drug driving as part of a Christmas campaign.

"It's much better value for money paying for a taxi, than the consequences you're going to have to live with for the rest of your life if you kill somebody," said Insp. Anton Sullivan of Cheshire Police.

Sharlotte was walking along the pavement on Endon Road in Norton with her father when Owen lost control of his car while driving at speed.

The six-year-old died at the scene.

The family's agony continued as Owen's blood could not be tested for 11 weeks because he was in a coma.

"It was horrendous," Ms Reynolds remembered. She said she felt as if she had fallen "deeper and deeper into this black hole".

The results ultimately showed that Owen had twice the specified limit of cocaine in his system and had 146 milligrams of alcohol per 100 millilitres of blood, compared with the legal limit of 80 milligrams.

Since challenging Owen's sentence, Ms Reynolds has campaigned to introduce "Sharlotte's Law", which would allow suspects' blood samples to be tested without consent.

The proposal has the backing of Stoke-on-Trent City Council, road safety charity Brake and was recently raised in Parliament by MP for Stoke-on-Trent North, David Williams.

"It's very reassuring that things are moving," said Ms Reynolds. "It was really stressful when we had the change of government - I didn't know what was going to happen."

Lucy Powell, Leader of the House of Commons, said the government was currently considering changes to motoring offences.

Ms Reynolds said introducing "Sharlotte's Law" would give her some closure.

"The grieving goes on the backburner," she said.

"When this is over, maybe that's when I'll start to grieve and maybe that's when it'll start to get easier."