Man who killed woman's whole family freed early and deported

A woman who lost her mum, sister and stepdad in a head-on crash says she has lost faith in the justice system after their killer was released from prison early and deported.

Summer Mace, 26, discovered the speeding driver who caused their deaths was deported to his native Lithuania in February after three years in prison, despite being sentenced to 10 and a half years.

At the time, she had been appealing the decision to consider Aurelijus Cielevicius for the early removal scheme (ERS), under which foreign nationals are deported rather than serving the remainder of their sentence in prison.

She is now campaigning for victims to be consulted before criminals are accepted for the scheme.

Summer, whose family were from Lincolnshire, said: "Three years and one month is all he served for killing three people. My heart shattered – broken into a million pieces, because yet again my family have been failed.

"These people who make these decisions have decided my family's lives were only worth that much."

A government spokesperson said it was an "abhorrent crime" and added: "All foreign national offenders who receive a prison sentence in the UK are referred for deportation at the earliest opportunity, and will be barred from ever returning to the UK."

Summer's family were driving home to Gedney, near Holbeach, when the crash happened on the A47 at North Runcton, near King's Lynn, Norfolk, on 15 January 2023.

Her mum Lisa Carter, 49, stepfather Paul Carter, 41, and 25-year-old sister Jade Mace were pronounced dead at the scene

Cielevicius, formerly of King's Lynn, was driving at 96mph (154km/h) while overtaking another vehicle at the time. Toxicology results found drugs in his system.

He admitted three counts of causing death by dangerous driving and was jailed at Norwich Crown Court in June 2023.

Cielevicius, who was 39 at the time, was also sentenced to a further four years on extended licence and disqualified from driving for eight years.

Summer said: "Jade, mum and Paul were my whole support network. We lived together with four dogs, lots of chickens and a cat.

"Jade growing up was my best friend. We were the sort of sisters you are a bit jealous of because we were so close.

"It's just weird being here without them. They were the three people who meant the most to me."

According to the government, ERS enables eligible foreign nationals to be taken out of prison early for the sole purpose of removal or deportation from the UK.

Offenders are not subject to further imprisonment after removal from the the country, but are barred from ever returning and liable to serve the rest of their sentence if they do.

Last year, the government introduced changes to ERS allowing prisoners with no right to be in the country to face deportation 30% into their prison term, rather than the previous 50%.

The legislation also extended the removal window from 18 to 48 months before the end of the custodial part of a sentence.

Summer, who moved from Lincolnshire to King's Lynn following the crash, found out Cielevicius might be eligible for the scheme in October 2025. She said it caused her constant worry.

She contacted her MP, James Wild, who raised the issue with Sir Keir Starmer at Prime Minister's Questions on 11February.

On 20 February, Wild received a letter from Lord Timpson, the prisons minister.

Summer said the letter confirmed that Cielevicius was eligible for release under ERS as a foreign national who had served 30% of his custodial sentence.

However, the letter did not confirm a decision had been made in his case, she added.

On 23 February, the family were told Cielevicius had been deported that morning in a letter from the Prisons and Probation service.

"Yet again as victims we were the last to know," Summer said. "The minister must have known on the Friday that he was going to be deported."

Summer now wants to campaign to help other families in a similar position and is calling on Timpson to meet with her and Wild.

"They've released him now. But the people who've done this need to be held accountable," she said.

"Moving forward they need to look at every case individually.

"They need to look at whether there are victims left behind who are traumatised by what's happened.

"But they're not –they're doing it as a quick scheme to get people out of prisons and make space. That makes it inhumane to the people left dealing with it."

Wild is supporting the call to consult victims.

He said: "If there's a foreign criminal convicted of a series of shoplifting offences, then I think people would be more prepared to see them deported so the taxpayer is not paying for them to be in a jail here.

"But I think when people have been killed, that is of a different order of magnitude.

"I think most people would be prepared to see their taxes paid to make sure this criminal isn't now walking free and enjoying his life while Summer and her family's lives have been destroyed by what he did."

The government spokesperson said their thoughts were with the family following their "tragic loss".

"We will not tolerate foreign criminals committing crimes in the UK and that is why we are replacing the broken appeals system and scaling up deportations," they added.

But Summer said victims should be included in any decision to release a criminal early.

She added: "All they've done for me is cause more hurt and pain on top of something that has already destroyed my family's lives."

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