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Wales Online
Wales Online
National
David Powell

Driver counting money fatally hit teenager at 60mph

A woman who had been counting money drove straight into a teenager on a moped, killing him.

Chantelle Gleave, 22, was driving at 60mph and told police that she had not seen 17-year-old Ethan Ross when she hit him on the A55 near St Asaph in September last year.

Mold Crown Court heard her headlights weren't working and that she had been using her fog-lights. While driving in her Vauxhall Astra, she made two phone calls using the infotainment system and tapped in her address in the sat nav before the crash.

Read more: See our latest coverage of the courts here

The court heard Gleave told an off-duty police officer who had stopped: "I didn't see him. He was going so slowly. I didn't have time to stop.

"I was looking down to the side, counting the money, and when I looked up he was just there in front of me and I hit him."

A judge jailed her for five years after she admitted dangerous driving. He added that the case was one of the "saddest he had ever heard."

The court heard that Gleave fell pregnant while she was under police investigation with a reasonable chance that she would face charges.

Ethan Ross, 17, died following a collision on the A55 at St Asaph (Family handout)

But her defence barrister asked the court to find that the pregnancy was not an attempt to "manipulate the matter". The baby is due in April.

Prosecutor John Philpotts told how Denbigh High School student Ethan had been returning from working as a waiter at Bodelwyddan Castle Hotel on his moped on the A55 eastbound on September 14.

Gleave, of Larch Avenue, Shotton, had been doing some work at a friend's flat in Colwyn Bay where she had been paid £100.

On her way home in her Vauxhall Astra she made two phone calls using the infotainment system and tapped in her address in the sat nav.

But then she had started counting the £100 in £10 notes which were to her left on the central console or front passenger seat.

Denbigh High School pupil, Ethan also worked part time as a waiter at Bodelwyddan Castle (Helen Ross)

The court heard she had also bought new bulbs to replace defective headlights, from Halfords in Chester, that day but couldn't afford to have them fitted and turned down her Colwyn Bay friend's offer to fit them.

Instead, she used her car's foglights for her journey from Colwyn Bay to Shotton.

She made one phone call at 9.52pm which had ended then at just before 10pm came up behind the moped.

At least four other drivers had overtaken it. Ethan had been going at 29mph, just under his permitted 30mph.

But Gleave, travelling at about 60mph, collided with the moped. The impact knocked off rider Ethan.

Ethan Ross, 17 was killed in a crash on the A55 (ugc)

He suffered a catastrophic brain injury and died soon afterwards in hospital.

The prosecutor said Gleave told an off-duty police officer who had stopped: "I didn't see him. He was going so slowly. I didn't have time to stop.

"I was looking down to the side, counting the money, and when I looked up he was just there in front of me and I hit him."

In an emotional victim impact statement, Ethan's mother Helen Ross told of her horror of the events that day and afterwards.

While her son was airlifted by helicopter to hospital in Stoke, she and Ethan's dad, Paul had to follow by car.

Ethan Ross, 17, from the St Asaph area died in hospital following an accident on the A55 near Bodelwyddan (Ian Cooper/North Wales Live)

In intensive care, she had said: "He was so still, with machines and wires everywhere. I said 'No that's not my boy.' I wanted to squeeze the life back into his body."

Sadly, Ethan succumbed to his injuries but saved many lives as an organ donor.

Simon Mills, defending Gleave, said of her driving: "She had foglights. I accept they were not adequate but it's not that she was driving an unlit car."

She made the phone calls using the hands free system.

Mr Mills said the defendant had been "very seriously negligent" but she had shown some remorse.

She recognises the devastation she has caused and has flashbacks.

The judge His Honour Judge Rhys Rowlands told Gleave that using only foglights, which the court heard didn't travel as far, had been "grossly irresponsible".

He said: "There's no sentence I can pass which will go anywhere near reflecting the loss of Ethan"

And in jailing Gleave for five years, he said he must abide by 13 year old dangerous driving legislation and it was "for others" to decide if they should be revised.

He also disqualified Gleave from driving for seven and a half years following her release.

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