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<\/p>\n A mum who caused the death of her two young sons in a head-on crash after knowingly driving with an underinflated tyre has avoided jail.<\/p>\n Amy Sheppard, 29, received a 20-month sentence suspended for two years at Lincoln Crown\u00a0Court<\/a>\u00a0on Friday.<\/p>\n Judge James House KC said the \u2018ability to excercise mercy\u2019 and not send Sheppard \u2013 a nursery nurse \u2013 to prison was part of his judicial functions.<\/p>\n The badly underinflated rear tyre of Sheppard\u2019s Vauxhall Astra caused the car to \u2018fishtail\u2019 on a bend and cross into the wrong carriageway, hitting an Audi coming in the opposite direction.<\/p>\n Sheppard was also seriously hurt, while her sons Louie, eight and Mason Ellis, six, died in the collision, which happened in October 2023. Both boys were restrained in appropriate safety seats in the back her car.<\/p>\n At the sentencing, Judge House praised a motorist, a scooter rider, two nearby residents and others who helped at the scene on the A52 near Sutton-on-Sea,\u00a0Lincolnshire<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u2018For those members of the public to immediately go to the aid of others and be met with the scene they faced showed real courage and compassion and I commend all of them for their selfless actions,\u2019 he said.<\/p>\n Sheppard, of Mumby Road, Huttoft, was driving home within the speed limit at the time of the accident and her car had no other defects.<\/p>\n A driver following behind had noticed her rear tyre was \u2018soft\u2019 and had \u2018almost expecting something to happen\u2019, the court heard.<\/p>\n Judge House said he accepted Sheppard, a nursery nurse, was \u2018an inherently kind and giving\u2019 individual who would have to \u2018carry with her for life that her careless actions resulted in the death of her two children\u2019.<\/p>\n He also noted that although the tyre was found to have a pressure of just 5psi, it was likely to have had a higher pressure at the time of the crash.<\/p>\n Sheppard had asked someone to check the tyre a day before the incident, but they had mistakenly tested the pressure of a front tyre, which had previously deflated.<\/p>\n The judge told Sheppard: \u2018That miscommunication or misunderstanding between them was to lead to catastrophic consequences.<\/p>\n \u2018The following day she accepts she was aware there was still a problem with the tyre.<\/p>\n