A HEARTBROKEN father has shared how meeting the man who took his son’s life helped him to heal – but refused to shake killer’s hand.
Joe Cairns was just 14 when truck driver James Majury ploughed into a school bus – with two killed and five injured in the horror that unfolded on the M58 in Lancashire five years ago.
Joe was sat at the back of the bus, which Andy said was his favourite place to sitAndy O’Dell
PAAndy claims Majury could be freed as early as this year[/caption]
Driver Majury was jailed for eight years and 10 months – with Andy O’Dell, the dad of young Joe, revealing his life would never be the same.
Dad Andy, 54, said: “The truck ploughed into the back of the bus my son was on.
“It killed Joe outright, he took the full blast.
“My life will never be the same, he’s lucky because he can go home and be with his family if he’s released this year, but we can never come home to Joe.
“His life was taken needlessly and I still don’t think his sentence is long enough, I blame the people that set the sentences for that.
“I think he’s going to be released this year, he’ll restart his life and be on the road again one day, but Joe will still be gone.
“He would have been 19 this year, what would he have looked like? Or how would he sound? We’ll never know.”
Last year Andy was offered the chance to meet Majury, which he bravely accepted, and has since said that sitting down with his son’s killer has enabled him to heal.
Andy, from Berry, said: “I had no idea what I was going to get out of meeting him, I was so anxious.
“All I knew was that I did not want to shake his hand, I did not want anything like that.”
Sat across from the man whose careless driving killed his son five years ago, Andy said he wanted to look him in the eye.
“He knew the risks of what he was doing and he did it anyway
Andy O’Dell
Andy, said: “We talked and chatted, I got my answers and he showed remorse, I went in there wanting an apology and I got that.
“I came out of the meeting different, I was a better person, It helped me get back to who I was before Joe died.
“But that does not change the fact that he turned my life upside down, that will never go away.
“However, after meeting him I saw that he’s also a father, and he made a huge mistake.”
Joe, who had learning difficulties, was killed when Majury, then 33, slammed his HGV truck into a school minibus at 50mph.
Andy said: “Joe was picked up by the school bus like any other day.
“He always sat at the back of the bus, that was his seat, all the kids had their favourite seat.”
But just a couple of hours later, he received a call from Joe’s mum, Steph Cairns, who said the school phoned her to say the bus never showed up.
Andy added: “I assumed they had broken down or were in traffic.
“But his mum phoned me back an hour later and was worried, she heard there was an accident on the motorway.”
Andy said he still wasn’t convinced there was much to worry about, and was just waiting to find out what had happened.
But then he was called by their family liaison officer, Mark, who said he needed to speak to Andy urgently and was on his way over.
He said: “When he arrived I could already see it on his face. I knew what had happened. “
It was later discovered that Majury was using his phone when the incident happened, phone records showed he had been on a collection of apps throughout his journey.
In August 2020 he was sentenced to prison after pleading guilty to causing death by dangerous driving at Preston Crown Court.
Andy said: “When I found out what happened I was torn to pieces, it changed the person I was.
“I just existed, it was all auto-pilot, I was not me. I lost my mum because she could never get over what happened to her grandson.”
“I think Restorative Justice Program can be helpful for those who feel ready to do it.
“My aim now is to try and help other families that are going through the same thing.
“I want tougher sentences for dangerous drivers because perhaps if we did then Joe would still be with us.”
Andy said Joe took the “full blast” when the HGV smashed into the back of the busAndy O’Dell
Andy O’DellJoe was killed on his first day back at school[/caption]
Andy O’DellMajury, 33, had been using his mobile phone right before the collision took place[/caption] Published: [#item_custom_pubDate]
