Five spectators who cheered on an illegal road race where a motorist driving at more than 140mph hit and killed four people on a quad bike are on trial for their alleged role in the deaths.
Victims Ryan Beal, 20, Brandon Brown, 20, Alexandra Binns, 18, and Terrie Kirby, 16, who were celebrating Terrie’s birthday, were all riding one quad bike – which was not part of the race – when they were hit by a Nissan 305 in a scene that one witness compared to the Fast and the Furious films. The group of spectators are now on trial for encouraging competitors in the race to drive dangerously.
The bronze Nissan was racing a number of other vehicles down the A6201 Hemsworth bypass in West Yorkshire when the crash happened on 27 September 2015. Its satnav recorded its speed when it hit the bike as 144mph.
Two groups of people had travelled from Wakefield and Barnsley to stage the illegal race as spectators watched from the sides of the road and a railway bridge, Leeds crown court heard.
The driver of the Nissan, Daniel Raynor, and his front seat passenger, Matthew Todd, have admitted charges of causing death by dangerous driving, the jury was told. The five defendants who watched from the bridge – George Tomlinson, 25, Nathan Jackson, 21, Stephen Hebden, 23, Lee Fisher, 29, and Bradley Lockwood, 22 – admitted being at the scene, but denied they were encouraging dangerous driving.
Prosecutor Kama Melly QC said: “It is the crown’s case that the defendants’ presence encouraged the dangerous driving that occurred over the course of the evening. These defendants went to this bypass for this very reason. Indeed, what other reason is there for being on an unlit layby on a railway bridge late on an autumn evening?
“They went knowing what they would see and participate in, and went knowing that a group of supporters and enthusiasts being present would encourage the dangerous driving that did occur.”
The prosecutor said it was not the purpose of the trial to determine responsibility for the crash itself, and emphasised that none of the defendants were accused of encouraging the specific piece of dangerous driving that caused the deaths of the four people on the quad bike.
Reading the accounts of a number of drivers who witnessed cars racing earlier that night, Melly told the jury that one witness remembered “seeing headlights come up in her mirror travelling towards her really fast. She experienced one car driving past her followed immediately by another. She estimated that they were doing speeds of 100mph.” Another person in the same car said the scene was “something like out of the film The Fast and the Furious”.
A police investigation found that the quad bike had no rear lights.
“It is right to say that other road users were very concerned by the quad bike on the road and the manner in which it was being driven earlier that night,” Melly said. “Those drivers were able through careful driving and more appropriate speeds to avoid colliding with the quad bike.”
She told the court that the bike had only been on that stretch of road “by chance”.
Todd’s phone was found to be running a stopwatch app that showed a time of one minute, 38 seconds. Melly said this was found to have been clocked five minutes before the crash. “Investigations into the satellite navigation system in Raynor’s car showed that it had been driving high-speed runs,” the prosecutor said.
Tomlinson, Jackson, Hebden, Fisher, and Lockwood, all from Barnsley, deny one count of encouraging and assisting in the commission of a dangerous driving offence. Fisher said in a statement that “he did go driving that night, but only to relax after work”.
The trial continues on Tuesday.
