THE family of Rebecca Steer says they hope the release of CCTV footage from the trial of Stephen McHugh 'will end any rumours' about the events of the night.
Known as Becca to her parents and siblings, the 22-year-old died in Oswestry in October 2022, with friend and fellow innocent bystander Kyle Roberts seriously injured, after McHugh mounted a kerb in Willow Street and struck them.
The 28-year-old was jailed for life, serving a minimum of 18 years, at Stafford Crown Court on Friday, for her murder and was given a concurrent four-and-a-half-year sentence.
Becca’s parents, David and Jennie, plus brother Cory were joined by wider members of the family to also thank the courtroom-based media for their support.
They said: “We wanted to thank the two local reporters from The Advertizer and Shropshire Star who have been here every day.
“We feel we have been fairly represented and everything that could have been upsetting in the local media was run by us first, for us to be aware of.
“Anything we didn’t want wasn’t included, even down to the CCTV footage release which was approved by us to show what actually happened that night.
“The reporters communicated honestly to us that there would be days that the press had to be positive to the defendant, because they had to be impartial.
“We’ve said this on social media but the footage that is out there and the facts, it should put an end to any of the rumours around the incident.
“Everyone who thinks they know what happened, they have no idea but thankfully down to everything that’s been reported and come out in the court, they will have an understanding now and no more rumours.”
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Meanwhile, Becca’s family said they will now try to pick up the pieces left by her death and thanked people for their support.
They added: “It’s all we can do but how we move forward, we don’t know.
“It’ll just be day-by-day.
“We take heart from the massive outpouring of love for Becca – it gives us hope absolutely.
“We couldn’t have gotten through without the wider community and even six or seven months later, we’re getting support from people within the village.
“There’s people who didn’t know Becca and we don’t know who they are but we’re still getting messages of support.
“But there will be days when we will want to grieve on our own.”
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