Quote:
Racing pair jailed for road crash
Wharmby and Unwin did not know each other when they started racing
Two motorists who raced each other before crashing and seriously injuring three people have been jailed.
Lee Unwin, 38, on a motorbike, and Joel Wharmby, 24, in a sports car, caused a crash with a another car in Rochdale.
One of the passengers in the car would never fully recover from her injuries, Manchester Minshull Street Court heard.
Unwin was convicted of dangerous driving and jailed for two years for the crash in 2007. Wharmby pleaded guilty and was jailed for 16 months.
Unwin, of Oriel Close, Chadderton, was on a Suzuki motorbike at traffic lights when he saw Wharmby, of Victoria Street, Littleborough, in a Noble M12 GT0, a low-slung sports car.
Prosecutor Robert Smith said: "The two defendants then engaged in an episode of competitive driving."
The vehicles raced at around 70mph in a 40mph zone when Wharmby spotted a Renault Clio turning right, the court heard.
He said Wharmby braked, causing the tyres to screech and smoke, before the Noble collided with the near side of the Renault Clio.
The Noble sports car hit the Clio injuring three people
The Clio was knocked into the air and spun around while its three backseat passengers were flung out.
Unwin stopped for a few moments at the scene in Manchester Road, Rochdale, before driving off.
Samantha Butterworth, 34, suffered severe traumatic brain injuries and will never lead a normal life, the court heard.
Her friends Reanne Fraser, 24, and Gemma Chauhan, 25, suffered ruptured organs and fractured bones and spent up to two months in hospital.
Recorder Paul Reid QC said of Ms Butterworth: "Your driving amounted to racing or competitive driving as you each tried to out-accelerate each other.
"The lives of three other people and those close to you have been devastated as a result of your conduct."
Both men were banned from driving for three years.
The Recorder said the the two-year maximum sentence for dangerous driving was "hopelessly inadequate".
Pc Martin Slater, of Greater Manchester Police's Road Policing Unit, said: "Their stupid, childish actions have ruined not just Samantha's chances of living a normal life, but have greatly affected her family's happiness too.
"The fact Unwin left the scene of this terrible collision, when three innocent women had been thrown from their car, is inexcusable and it is only by the grace of God that no one was killed."
This was from the BBC news.
