Alice Williams: Grieving mum tells killer driver Qadeer Hussain that she feels 'blinding, chest-crushing, white-hot rage' for him after Halifax collision

Alice Williams’ mother Clare O’Neill gave a victim impact statement to the court on the day her daughter’s killer was jailed.

She said she felt ‘hate’ for Qadeer Hussain with ‘every cell’ of her body and ‘every breath’, and added that she could not ‘adequately describe what it’s like to have one’s child obliterated’.

She said: “Every day there is an empty space right next to me, where she should be standing. I’m missing her ideas, her voice, everything about her, with real pain. I have a phantom limb – you severed her from me. The wound is still healing, I will never be whole again.”

Ms O’Neill said the event had been ‘imprinted’ on Alice’s younger brother’s memory, who, she recalled, asked someone to collect his sister’s shoes from the road when they were thrown from her in the crash as his mum remained frozen in panic.

The devastated mum added: “I feel blinding, chest-crushing, white-hot rage at you, unlike any emotion I’ve ever felt before. She wasn’t in the wrong place at the wrong time, you were. You knew it all along, I’m helpless to express my anger that you stole everything from her.”

Hussain, 55, was driving a Vauxhall Corsa at 49mph in a 30mph zone when he ploughed in to Alice, who was crossing the road ahead of her mum and her six-year-old brother outside her school in Halifax, West Yorkshire.

Bradford Crown Court heard that cars had been stopped in the left lane of the dual carriageway at a red signal for seven seconds when the dangerous driver ploughed into the young schoolgirl in the right-hand lane on the morning of July 8, 2023.

Prosecutor Jonathan Gibson said road users would have had an ‘uninhibited view’ of the puffin crossing's traffic lights, located on the King Cross Street dual carriageway. This led prosecutors to believe he deliberately chose to run the signal, thinking nobody was crossing, with the view obscured by vehicles stopped in the left-hand lane.

He has now been jailed for eight years and four months.

Alice’s dad, Chris Williams, described his daughter as a ‘beautiful soul’. The grief-stricken father said Alice’s death had destroyed his wife’s confidence and mental health and left him still feeling ‘numb’ years later.

He added: “Alice and hundreds like her every year shouldn’t have to die because of drivers who don’t realise or don’t care about the consequences of their actions.”

In a statement read out to the court, Alice’s younger brother said: “She was really good at Minecraft. My mum is not at all good at Minecraft. I think Qadeer Hussain is bad. If drivers speed they’re automatically bad guys because they know they shouldn’t do it. It’s too bad for me to think about. It makes me feel very sad. I don’t trust drivers and I don’t like cars going too fast.

“I want a house with four people in, not three. If we have three, we always have a spare room and a spare chair. My mum cries a lot, and my dad doesn’t cry a lot but he’s very sad. I miss having a young person in my house.”

Prosecutors said Alice was thrown into the air and towards the pavement following the crash, which was seen by several eyewitnesses.

Forensic analysis of video footage showed the dangerous driver travelling at an average speed of 49mph on the 30mph road, even increasing his speed after the lights at the pedestrian crossing turned red.

Hussain’s brake lights only illuminated 14 metres (46ft) before the point of the crash, which would not have been enough distance to stop even if he had been travelling at the speed limit, the court heard.

Prosecutor James Lake said: "It’s clear the defendant was reacting to Alice’s presence in the road, not to the fact that the traffic lights were red. I want to make that absolutely clear."

Alice was formally declared dead two days later, on July 10, 2023, with forensic pathologists confirming she died as a result of very severe blunt force head injury, to her front side and back left side. The young girl’s organs were later donated and were used in four successful transplants.

Hussain was arrested at the scene following the crash. The court heard that at police interview in 2024, Hussain, who was travelling with his wife and two adult children, had said he had been telling his children off in relation to the car's Bluetooth stereo system, and had thought he was travelling between 25 to 35mph. He added that there was ‘nothing wrong with his driving’.

At interview, he claimed that the lights were still in the process of changing to red when Alice ‘came towards him’. However, a subsequent investigation of dashcam and CCTV footage showed his account to be ‘completely inaccurate’, prosecutor James Lake added.

Defending, Michael Greenhalgh pointed to Hussain’s lack of previous record and the fact he pleaded guilty at the earliest opportunity.

He added: “English is not his first language, it’s difficult for him to verbalise his remorse without the use of an interpreter, but as someone with a family of his own he’s able to understand to a degree what the kind of loss that Alice’s family sustained actually means.”

Mr Greenhalgh noted that Hussain’s comments at police interview in relation to his manner of driving were never pursued to court.

Judge Jonathan Gibson said no sentence 'could ever make up for the overwhelming loss of Alice to her family and those who knew her'. He thanked another driver, identified as Joshua Helliwell, who got out of his vehicle and helped provide medical attention to the young girl before ambulance teams arrived.

Prior to sentencing, the judge said: “Alice was nine years old in July 2023, she was a bright, much-loved and loving child. The loss to her mother, father, and younger brother together with every member of her wider family and circle of friends has been huge and overwhelming.

“It is impossible to find words to express the enormity of their loss. Reading and hearing the victim personal statements in this case has made that clear. The consequences of what happened that day go far beyond what happened to Alice herself, which was catastrophic in itself and effect the family and will do so for the rest of their lives.”

He added: “Alice as a pedestrian is a vulnerable road user. You wrongly placed the blame on Alice for running into the road and into your path in your police interviews. She did nothing wrong, as I have already said, she, her mother, and younger brother, crossed the road entirely appropriately.”

Hussain was also disqualified from driving for 10 years and two months. He will only be able to drive again following an extended re-test.