Notts teen joined gang that stole hearse from funeral home and crashed it

Alexia Kelly was one of several teenagers who took the hearse from Nottinghamshire Funeral Service, on Foxhill Road East, in Carlton, just after 5am, on Saturday, October 27, 2018.

Nottinghamshire Police said half an hour after the theft, the hearse hit a lamppost and crashed with a car in Jessops Lane, Gedling.

“The youths assaulted the car driver before fleeing on foot, the car driver was taken to hospital with facial injuries and his phone was damaged during the crash with the stolen hearse,” a spokesperson said in a statement shortly afterwards.

Kelly, who has just turned 20, was 18 at the time of the incident, her barrister Ben Brown told Nottingham Crown Court, on Wednesday.

"She fell in with the wrong crowd," he said. "She was made homeless following an argument with her mother."

He said that evening she had been drinking heavily and wasn't involved in taking the hearse, but accepts being in the back seat.

"She took no part in the ancillary offences that happened after that," Mr Brown said.

"Since then she no longer associates with any of the co-defendants. She no longer drinks whatsoever. She recognises that alcohol was a contributory factor."

Judge Timothy Spencer QC said a picture taken that night which showed two people with knives in their hands and another making a gang sign, also featured Kelly "looking as if you were revelling at being involved in a gang."

"I was very worried about that image," he told her. "I should think you were very scared sitting in the back. Pictures show how badly damaged in the crash it was.

"Someone could have been killed. That someone could have been you. This is your first appearance in the crown court, make sure it's your last."

Kelly, of Brockenhurst Gardens, Nottingham, who had no previous convictions, pleaded guilty to aggravated vehicle taking.

Judge Spencer handed her a 15 month community order with 30 days of unpaid work.