A woman who killed her new boyfriend's two young daughters after crashing the car they were in has avoided prison.
Jessica
Portor, seven, and her big sister Tamzin, 10, died when the Ford Focus
being driven by Marie Easter, the new girlfriend of their father Allan,
veered off the road.
Jessica
and Tamzin, of Sutton Bridge, Lincolnshire, were visiting their father
at Christmas when Easter, 43, crashed on the A47 at Walsoken, near
Wisbech, Cambridgeshire.
Both girls suffered devastating head injuries and they were declared dead at Queen Elizabeth Hospital, King's Lynn.
Easter
had loved the girls as if they were her own and was 'a broken woman'
who would live with their tragic deaths for the rest of her life,
Norwich Crown Court heard yesterday.
The car's back two tyres had illegal
low treads and all four tyres had the wrong pressure. A police accident
investigator said the tyres could have contributed to the accident.
Easter,
of Terrington St Clement, near King's Lynn, admitted two charges of
causing death by careless driving on December 27, 2012.
She escaped with minor injuries along with Mr Portor, 38, and his son Liam, 12.
Jessica was probably not wearing a seatbelt at the time, the court was told.
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Easter initially claimed she swerved to avoid an
oncoming car but Lindsay Cox, prosecuting, said witnesses said there
was no reason why she made the dramatic manoeuvre
The girls' devastated parents said the siblings were 'our little angels' and could never be replaced.
They
said Tamzin was always happy, who loved singing and helping people.
Jessica woud 'bring alive any room she was in', loving to dance, sing
and eat chocolate, they said.
Easter initially claimed she swerved to avoid an oncoming car, the court heard.
But Lindsay Cox, prosecuting, said witnesses said there was no reason why she made the dramatic manoeuvre.
Mr
Cox said the tread depths on two tyres were illegal and the tyre
pressures were wildly divergent and that this along with the wet road
could have caused the killer smash.
Judge Mark Lucraft gave Easter a 15-month jail sentence suspended for two years.
He also banned her from driving for four years ' although Easter said she did not want to drive again.
Judge Lucraft accepted she was full of remorse and had had her 'heart ripped out'.
He added: 'This was a tragic event. You describe the girls as being beautiful and full of life, who brought joy to all they met.
'Whatever sentence I pass cannot undo what has been done.'
Neil
Guest, defending, said: 'She is a broken woman. 'This is a matter which
will live with her, every day of her life, until that life ends.'
After
the case Steve Matthews, of Norfolk police serious collision
investigation team, said: 'This is a terribly sad case where lives have
been torn apart by the deaths of two young girls.
'What began as a festive treat turned into a tragedy due to the careless driving of Easter.
'Other
factors may have contributed to the severity of the collision, but
ultimately Easter's driving was substandard and caused the sisters'
deaths.'
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