Boschiazzo hit-and-run driver jailed (From Croydon Guardian)

Alessia Boschiazzo hit-and-run driver jailed for 6 1/2 years

3:10pm Thursday 26th April 2012 in Local news By Hannah Williamson

A man who knocked down a talented dancer and left her for dead has been jailed for six and a half years.

Stephen Saunders, 22, was sentenced at Croydon Crown Court today for killing popular teenager Alessia Boschiazzo in a hit and run on February 25 last year.

The 14-year-old, from Carshalton, was knocked down in Morland Road, Addiscombe, at about 7pm.

Alessia, who was a student at Ursuline High School, in Wimbledon, suffered severe head injuries and a broken pelvis after being mown down as she went to meet friends.

She spent a week in a coma before she died from her injuries, surrounded by her family.

Saunders of Gardeners Close, Mottingham, handed himself in to Croydon police station 10 days after the incident.

He was due to stand trial this week charged with death by dangerous driving, but changed his plea at a pre-trial review hearing on April 13.

At a hearing in November 2011, Saunders pleaded guilty to driving and causing a death while uninsured, driving and causing a death while unlicensed and one count of perveting the course of justice.

Saunders was also banned from driving for five years.

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