A MOTHER who killed three teenagers and a motorist when she caused a high-speed pile-up after cramming seven boisterous schoolboys into her car was jailed for two years yesterday.

Furious relatives stormed out of court, condemning the sentence given to Angela Dublin as woefully lenient. The 46-year-old nurse had admitted causing the deaths of three 13-year-old boys and a 21-year-old man by dangerous driving in May last year.

In a packed courtroom there were shouts of, “It’s an insult”, and one grieving father turned to the judge, Mr Justice Crane, and said, “My boy is rotting in a coffin”, before walking out.

Dublin, who uses crutches, sat in the dock at Oxford Crown Court, staring at the floor, as the relatives were led out by ten police officers. The court had been told how she had been taking friends of her son, Anton, to dinner to celebrate his 13th birthday when the tragedy happened.

Only one boy had been wearing a seatbelt and at least one, possibly two, had been curled up in the boot of the Citroën Xsara when she lost control at 70mph. Anton’s friends, Josh Bartlett, Liam Hastings and Marshall Haynes, all from Oxford, died in the pile-up. The two not wearing seatbelts were flung from the vehicle.

Howard Hillsdon, 21, a recent graduate who was preparing for teacher-training, was also killed when Dublin swerved across the central reservation into the path of his car. Five vehicles were involved in the crash on Oxford bypass, a busy dual carriageway. Dublin and her son were among those seriously injured.

The cause of the crash is unclear because Dublin has said that she had a limited memory of the incident. Other motorists told police that they saw children leaping around, laughing, joking and making childish gestures as the vehicle picked up speed.

The car was seen to sweep from the outside to the inside lane before moving back to the fast lane without indicating. Dublin corrected her steering but lost control, sending the car across the central reservation and into Mr Hillsdon’s path. Both vehicles were sent spinning before hitting oncoming traffic and knocking a motorcyclist from his machine.

Jake Proper, 13, was in the passenger seat next to Dublin. Both had to be cut free and suffered serious injuries. Anton, Aiden Wood, 13, Connor Hunt, 12, and Mr Hillsdon’s passenger were also hurt.

Outside the court, Jane Hastings, who lost her son, Liam, said: “Nothing Dublin could do or say would make this any better for me. But she could at least look me in the eye. She kept her head down the whole time in court. This isn’t justice. My boy has died and I want her to acknowledge what she has done.”

Julie Hillsdon said that her son had been killed before learning that he had gained his engineering degree. “Our son was very safety conscious, always wore a seat belt. It’s ironic that he died because someone else did not have that respect for life.”

Colette and Anthony Proper, the parents of Jake, said that they were proud of their “inspiring” son for fighting so hard to recover from his injuries and coming to terms with the loss of his friends. Sentencing Dublin, the judge said that she had caused the “devastating” sequence of events by allowing too many boisterous boys in her car who were not wearing seatbelts.

He said that because she had suffered severe psychological and physical problems from the crash, her jail term would be reduced to help her to recover.

Dublin was also disqualified from driving for six years.

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