How the life of young Rebecca Steer was cruelly cut short by a murderous driver
The "unfair and senseless" death of a young woman who was mowed down and killed by a murderous driver in Oswestry town centre left a community in mourning.
Rebecca Steer, whose life was cut short by the actions of Stephen McHugh in Oswestry on October 9 last year, had never met her killer before he mowed her down outside the Grill Out takeaway, and had simply been "an innocent bystander".
The 22-year-old from Llanymynech, on the Wales/Shropshire border, was enjoying a night out in Oswestry with friends when she was killed.
The law student had just started a new relationship with boyfriend Huw Evans who was out with her on the night she died.
Known to friends and family as Becca, Miss Steer had been studying criminal justice at Liverpool John Moores University.
Her tragic death caused shockwaves in her home village of Llanymynech.
Becca's funeral saw hundreds of people from the tight-knit community, which is near to Oswestry, line the streets.
Police had to close the A483 trunk road while mourners first lined the road and then walked behind the hearse to St Agatha's Parish Church.
And there was tribute after tribute to Becca following her death, as friends told of the effect she had had on their lives.
They told of a "vivacious and infectious personality", how she "burned bright" and how she was "always doing something crazy".
But they also told of how she had put her own life on hold to help others and how "everyone was a better person because they had Becca in their lives".
Her death had been described by those who knew her as "unfair and senseless."
The Rector of St Agatha's Rev Kathryn Trimble said those at her funeral had been in "a state of shock and grief".
Friends and Becca's younger siblings, Cory and Kimberley, said the the young woman had originally wanted a career in entertainment and went to Turkey, her second home, to fulfill her dream.
She later changed career path and had an ambition to become a detective.
Becca's parents, Jennie and David Steer, attended every day of the two-week-long trial at Stafford Crown Court where Stephen McHugh admitted killing their daughter.
But the 28-year-old, who pleaded guilty to manslaughter, denied murdering the 22-year-old and causing grievous bodily harm to Kyle Roberts, who was also hit by McHugh's car.
Following his conviction on Thursday, Mr and Mrs Steer were scathing in their opinion of their daughter's killer.
They told the Shropshire Star: "Becca was and always will be 22 in our hearts and beautiful and amazing.
"McHugh is, and always will be, a maggot to us."