Below is a joint media statement released after the Old Bailey hearing last Friday by Jack Ryan's parents - Noel and Teresa - and his sister Ciara, and his partner, Elizabeth Austin.
“Losing Jack has changed us forever and our family has been shattered. We all carry the trauma of what happened to Jack with us every single day of our lives. We live with a constant, unshakeable anxiety that the very worst could happen at any moment - because we have had the worst happen to our family.
“As well as losing a son, brother and friend, a beautiful little baby girl will never get to meet her father. Everyone who knew Jack from all areas of his life miss him deeply and we will all forever cherish his memory.
“Jack was the person who everyone was lucky to have in their life. He was a funny, kind-spirited man with a great love for life and a fierce love for his friends, his partner Liz, his family and his beloved Aston Villa. Jack was the perfect combination of a big kid at heart with a sensitivity at his core that made him love and care for those around him so deeply.
“The pitiful sentence handed down today to Mr Ali is an insult not only to our family but to all families who experience the trauma of having a loved one’s death caused by dangerous driving.
“The leniency of the sentence is made all the worse by the fact that Ali completely avoided his original trial by absconding to Pakistan and has today compounded our grief and his own shame by not showing up at Court today for his own sentencing.
“Ali has shown zero empathy and zero compassion for our family and by taking the coward's way out at every step of the way he has avoided any accountability which has inflicted even more pain for everyone who loved Jack.
“We would, however, like to place on record our sincere thanks to everyone who has supported our family since that fateful day of 13th January 2021. We have received many messages of support from near and afar. We are grateful to all those who continue to show us compassion and care at the time we need it most.”
Joe Dodman of law firm HCC, said:
“Jack’s family have shown incredible strength and dignity in the face of overwhelming grief and trauma. Not only have they lost someone truly special in everyone’s lives but they have to try and move forward knowing the perpetrator has been handed a sentence far less in duration than most people would naturally expect.
“The fact he wasn’t present to face them either in Court at the trial or today at sentencing hurts the family even more.
“Those who are convicted of the serious criminal offence of causing death by dangerous driving should be required to face the consequences of their own actions and compelled to face their multiple victims.”
©Photo supplied by the Ryan family