Ashley Towning: Drug driver who killed mum hid under parents’ dining table

A killer driver high on drink and drugs and on his mobile phone when he mowed down a mother in front of her daughters has been jailed for ten years.

Ashley Towning, 30, had taken cannabis and cocaine and was at least three-and-ahalf times over the drink-drive limit when he hit Lijuan Wu, 40, and killed her.

She had been walking home with her daughters, aged seven and 16, after a birthday shopping trip.

Towning then fled and was heard to say ‘I’m off ’ as he was chased by a jogger. He was arrested at his parents’ house, cowering under their dining table in the same red shorts he was wearing at the time of the crash on August 8.

Passing sentence yesterday, Judge Simon Hirst told him the impact of his actions had been ‘truly catastrophic’.

Ms Wu, who ran a Chinese takeaway with her husband, was also the primary carer for their disabled 12-year-old son, Lincoln Crown Court heard.

Towning was jailed for ten years and eight months and banned from driving for ten years after admitting death by dangerous driving. Phil Howes, prosecuting, said Towning mounted the pavement in Grantham a Nissan Juke and crashed into all three from behind. Witnesses said he did not make any attempt to steer back into the road.

Mobile phone records also showed Towning made a series of calls to his ex-girlfriend while driving after buying a bottle of vodka.

In a victim impact statement read to the court, Ms Wu’s husband said: ‘I just want to die. Every night, I lie awake with a broken heart.’