Amy Hofmeister - mother's outrage as killer driver Leonard Jones set for release this month

Amy Hofmeister’s mother is incensed that the justice system allows Leonard Jones out after serving barely half his sentence.

To add insult to injury, she had to take action to get him banned from living in the same village as some of her family – despite his previous pledge that he would leave this area.

Jones was jailed for seven years for causing 13-year-old Amy’s death by dangerous driving when his car ploughed into her as she cycled along Blackbrook Way, Taunton, on June 15, 2011.

Mrs Hofmeister believes the original sentence was too lenient – Jones, 44, formerly of Mulberry Close, Taunton, could have been sent down for 11 years had he not pleaded guilty.

Mrs Hofmeister said: “Amy was killed four years ago next Monday and Leonard Jones is being realised the following week.

“His term was reduced because he pleaded guilty early and promised to relocate to Leeds.

“I managed to get an exclusion zone so he couldn’t enter Taunton.

“Then I heard he was trying to move to Creech St Michael, so I pushed to get it extended to Creech St Michael and Creech Heathfield, where my parents and sisters live.”

Jones, who is subject to the order until December 2018, now says he will move outside Somerset.

Leonard Jones.

Shortly after the death of Bishop Fox’s student Amy, Mrs Hofmeister established the Think Amy charity to promote safe driving.

She said: “Four years isn’t justice, but I can’t do anything about that.

“But I can keep Amy’s memory alive – we’ll continue to remember her and the reasons why she was killed.

“Leonard Jones’s sentence is effectively over, but mine will never be.

“The pain doesn’t go away. I’m yearning and longing for Amy, I ache for her.

“We’ve not seen her going through college, going to university, having children or getting married. I’ve been robbed of all that.”

Mrs Hofmeister, family and friends are holding a candlelit vigil on Blackbrook Way to remember Amy on Monday at 7.30pm, the time of her death.

She is asking people across the area to join her or to light a candle wherever they are to think of Amy, who would have been 18 next month.

And scores of people are wearing pink or purple at work during the day in Amy’s honour.

Send your photos to thinkamy.co.uk or the Think Amy Facebook page.

Mrs Hofmeister said: “I’m showing the community and Leonard Jones’s family, ‘Here I am. I’m standing firm’.

“I’m keeping Amy’s memory alive and hopefully through Think Amy preventing another unfair and unnecessary death.”

Leanne Burnell, 22, formerly of Bishop’s Hull, was also jailed for causing Amy’s death by dangerous driving – she was racing against Jones in another car.

Burnell, who denied the charge, was freed in May last year 21 months into her 3½-year sentence and is barred from entering Taunton until next January.