A DEFENDANT who shared pictures on social media captioned 'What a beautiful day to be alive' while he was being tried for causing death by careless driving will not serve any time in prison.

Daniel Chappell, 37, denied causing the death of Alliyah Bell by careless driving but was convicted unanimously by a jury at Chelmsford Crown Court last month.

The court heard he had been travelling at nearly 40mph in Hythe Hill when he fatally struck the 17-year-old in August 2021.

Miss Bell died 11 days later after her life support was switched off, with medical experts describing her injuries as "catastrophic".

During the trial Chappell, of Prince Philip Road, Colchester, said he had been blinded by car headlights shining in the opposite direction when the collision happened.

After his conviction, Chappell sparked disbelief when he shared pictures on social media to say he was planning to travel to Amsterdam and Japan.

During the trial, he shared posts captioned ;What a beautiful day to be alive' and uploaded songs by the band The Killers, the court heard on Wednesday.

In a victim impact statement, Miss Bell's mother, Jo Swann, claimed Chappell had shown "zero remorse".

The statement, read by Peter Clark, prosecuting, said: "Seeing Mr Chappell's behaviour the week of the trial was disgusting – it felt like he was tormenting us.

"It's wicked to think that way, let alone post it on a public profile.

"A human being has caused the death of a young girl and shown zero remorse."

Judge Jamie Sawyer described the behaviour as "gobsmacking".

He said: "For a defendant to be in that position and post on social media… I ask this question rhetorically, what on earth was Mr Chappell thinking?

"Those reports are not things that have been sought out by members of the public. There were newspaper articles written about him.

"There really can’t be an answer to that.

"What on earth was he thinking?

"During the course of a trial where somebody lost their life, that is gobsmacking behaviour."

The court heard Chappell had convictions prior to the 2021 incident of alcohol misuse, possession of an offensive weapon in a public place, and malicious communications.

Since then, he has been convicted of criminal damage and racially aggravated harassment.

But the judge spared Chappell from going to prison after saying the aggravating and mitigating features evened each other out.

Chappell was given a one-year sentence suspended for two years, 30 days of alcohol rehabilitation activities, 120 days of alcohol abstinence monitoring requirements, and 300 hours of unpaid work.

He was also banned from driving for two years.

Please note that any defamatory or abusive comments posted in response to this article will be removed for being in breach of our policy.