BEFORE the tragic events of February 21, the Harold family had already experienced a deeply personal loss.

BEFORE the tragic events of February 21, the Harold family had already experienced a deeply personal loss.

Susan Harold, the wife of Glen, and the mother of Michelle, Mark, Emma and Rebecca, died from cancer in 1998 a year after it was diagnosed.

Mr Harold, 62, describes in his victim personal statement how the death had a “huge effect” on all their lives, particularly Rebecca, who was just 13 at the time. He said they were a close family and despite problems, they tried to move on as best they could.

Michelle Letchford, 37, is married and has three boys, aged between seven and 14. Mark, 34, is also married and has two girls, aged eight and 11.

Rebecca, 25, has an eight-year-old daughter and a two-year-old boy. She lives alone and cares for her children, although she has been with her boyfriend Liam since May 2005.

Emma lived at home with her father but had been engaged to Mohammed Alibrahimi for six years. In December 2008 Mr Harold went with her to try to get a mortgage to buy a house for herself and Mohammed.

Mr Harold said: “All our lives changed during the early hours of Saturday, February 21, 2009, in a devastating way.

“I had dropped Rebecca, Emma and their friend Kate off at St Clement's Social Club on Friday, February 20, around 9.30pm and both my daughters kissed me goodbye.

“I will never forget being woken in the early hours of that Saturday morning by three police officers. I knew immediately the news was not going to be good.

“What followed was something a father never should have to do, go to a hospital and have to identify my daughter, Emma, to the police.

“Rebecca was seriously ill following a collision with a car in Foxhall Road. Kate, their lifelong friend, had also lost her life in the same collision as the three girls walked home happy after their night out.

“As a result of one man's reckless and selfish actions, I have lost a daughter.

“It has had a devastating effect on me and the whole family. I can describe it as a stone being thrown into a calm pond, the ripples of sadness have reached far and wide.

“I cannot begin to describe my sleepless nights or dark thoughts, and the house we have called home for over 20 years is full of bad memories and I just wish to sell it.

“Rebecca will have the mental and physical scars for the rest of her life and will always be haunted to some degree or other.

“My daughter Emma will never have the chance to get married, to have children or flourish in her work. She will never again be able to do the simple things in life we all take for granted. From now on whatever we do as a family there will always be a hole, never again filled.

“Part of my future has gone and all of Emma's future has been taken from her.

“In addressing Scott Nicholls, I feel no pity for him, he does not deserve it. I have been asking myself the question why does our society tolerate and make excuses for this type of habitual disregard for the law, for decency and his lack of standards that most human beings abide by.

“Nicholls is beneath our contempt and has destroyed our family by his selfish acts. I hope he will learn from this but my fear is another family will suffer the absolute and total devastation he has inflicted upon us.”