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A driver who knocked down and killed a five-year-old boy while travelling at twice the speed limit callously told the family: ‘‘S**t happens, life goes on.’’

Wayne Payne, 31, was jailed for five years after his Vauxhall Vectra hit Cameron Ward as he travelled home with his mum and dad from a family party in Erdington.

A judge had bailed the killer driver over the weekend on “compassionate grounds” so he could see his two young daughters before being jailed.

But just minutes later unemployed Payne, of Somerset Road, Erdington, argued with Cameron’s grieving relatives outside Birmingham Crown Court – before walking away saying: “S**t happens, life goes on.”

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CCTV clip of Wayne Payne speeding moments before he hit Cameron Ward

Yesterday, Judge Rafferty jailed the driver and told him: “You were let out on trust by me for the weekend and the fact that you behaved in that way is a very unfortunate state of affairs.”

A jury had taken just 45 minutes to find Payne guilty of causing death by dangerous driving on Friday.

They heard how Cameron was killed in Court Lane, Erdington, as he returned with his family from an Easter party on April 1 last year.

The schoolboy’s dad John Ward was wheeling the Paget Primary pupil along on a pushbike ahead of mum Katie Lawrence and baby sister Ruby, who was just four weeks old at the time.

Mr Ward had started to cross the road when he saw the headlights of the speeding Vectra before it hit the bike, causing Cameron to be flung in the air.

The court was later told Payne was travelling at 61mph in a 30mph zone and he had not braked before the collision. As well as being jailed, he was banned from driving for five years.

The court heard he had convictions for drug possession dating back to 2004 and two fixed penalty notices from 2010 and 2012 for using a phone whilst driving.

Gulan Ahmed, defending Payne, said: “He is remorseful and sorry for what he did. He has two daughters himself and he puts himself in the position of the victims and tells me that he wishes he could turn back time and undo what he has done, but he can’t.

“He is going to have to live with what he did until the day of his own death.”

A letter of apology was also handed to the court from Payne, via his legal team, which stated he had spent the weekend reflecting on his clash with the family of Cameron.

But Judge Stuart Rafferty QC told him: “A five-year-old boy has lost his life before he even had a chance to begin to live. If you had just been a few seconds later you would have hit four people and not two.

“You were not doing 35mph, or even 40mph, you were doing twice the speed limit and I’m satisfied that you had been doing that along the entire length of the road. It was grossly excessive and there was no legitimate reason at all for driving in that way.

“Mr Ward was blameless, but he will continue to ask himself if it was his fault. One can only imagine his horror as a responsible parent when he saw the speed at which the vehicle was approaching him at and he realised that there was nowhere for him to go.

“The last memory the parents have of their little boy will not be a happy one, it will be the sight of him after you had hit him.”

The court previously heard extracts of a victim impact statement from mum Katie, 23, who had described his birth as the happiest day of her life. She said: “My heart breaks every time that I think about him. Nothing is the same, nobody is the same and everybody hurts. We love and miss him so much.”

The Judge also thanked the family for the “restraint and dignity” they had shown throughout the trial and sentencing.

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