[2025] EWCA Crim 1257

The facts

The fatal road traffic accident took place on 9 April 2023, Easter Sunday. The appellant lived with his family in Whitchurch, Shropshire. At around 6 pm that evening he met up with several friends at the White Lion public house in Ash Magna, a village just outside Whitchurch, and agreed to give them a lift in his Ford Fiesta to the Jazz Fest music festival in Nantwich, over the border in Cheshire, about 10 miles away. At this time the appellant was just 20 years old. His twentieth birthday had been 2 months earlier on 11 February.

The young man who died, Felix Davies, was 19 years old. He was the front seat passenger in the Fiesta. There were three passengers in the rear of the car, Fin Hares (aged 18), Daniel Kettle (aged 23) and Isobel Smith (aged 19). Another friend of the group, Matthew Williams, was in a separate vehicle, a Nissan Navara, a larger and more powerful vehicle. It was he who set off from the public house first. The appellant was following him in the Fiesta.

The route was along rural single carriageway roads. It was daylight, the weather was fine and the traffic was comparatively light. Throughout the journey the appellant appeared to be trying to keep up with Matthew Williams's vehicle which was some distance ahead. The appellant would put his foot down and try to overtake vehicles on the straight stretches of road. The passengers in the rear became concerned at the way the appellant was driving.

Isobel Smith, who was the rear offside passenger sitting immediately behind the driver, described the appellant as driving fast, showing off and driving at a stupid speed around corners. Both she and Daniel Kettle, who was sitting in the middle of the back seat, told the appellant to slow down and warned him that he was driving too fast. Isobel Smith recalled the appellant driving at 40 miles per hour around a particularly treacherous corner. Daniel Kettle says that the appellant's driving made him feel very nervous. It was far too quick for the road conditions.

The appellant had to stop at a T-junction in order to turn right onto the A525 towards Nantwich. As he waited for an opportunity to make that turn, the appellant would have been aware that Matthew Williams’s vehicle had already negotiated the junction and was some distance ahead on the A525. Almost immediately after joining the major road the appellant overtook a 4 x 4 vehicle on a straight stretch. Thereafter there were bends in the road. Isobel Smith and Daniel Kettle told the appellant to slow down several times. She remembered thinking there was no way they were going to make it round the corner they were approaching.

Fin Hares, who was the rear nearside passenger, described the appellant's driving getting faster and faster on the A525. He remembers looking at the speedometer after the appellant had overtaken the 4 x 4. It was showing 90 miles per hour.

The scene of the accident was just after the junction for Combermere Abbey. The stretch of road leading to the site of the collision was a sweeping bend to the left followed by a sharper bend to the right with a speed limit of 60 miles per hour. The appellant was going much too fast for the bend, which was well signed. The appellant was straddling the solid double white lines in the middle of the road. There were two oncoming vehicles. Isobel Smith noticed that the appellant at this point was driving with just two fingers of his left hand on the bottom of the steering wheel and holding a vape in his other hand. On seeing the oncoming vehicles the appellant swerved to avoid them. He lost control of the vehicle. The Fiesta went up the grass verge and collided with a tree. It then spun round back across the road into the offside verge.

We have seen the post-accident photographs of the Fiesta. It had suffered massive damage with the front nearside totally crushed in. Because it was a three-door car the passengers in the rear were trapped. The appellant was able to get out of the vehicle, having sustained only minor injuries himself. He helped Isobel Smith and Daniel Kettle to get out of the vehicle but both of them were very seriously injured. The third rear seat passenger, Fin Hares, was stretched over in his seat. It was the front seat passenger, Felix Davies, who bore the brunt of the impact damage sustaining fatal injuries.

Isobel Smith called 999. The appellant phoned his parents and his father soon attended the scene and rendered assistance, comforting Felix Davies. Other vehicles had stopped and members of the public were also assisting Felix Davies. The emergency services were able to remove him from the vehicle onto a spinal board awaiting transfer to hospital. An air ambulance arrived. Everything that could be done to save his life was done but he died soon afterwards at the scene from his catastrophic injuries.

The middle seat passenger, Daniel Kettle, sustained serious head injuries. A CT scan showed bleeding on both sides of the brain as well as air within the brain. He had fractures to the bones of the forehead and to both sides of the skull, fractures of both eye sockets and multiple fractures of the cheekbones and nose. There was also damage to his lungs and the large bowel. His hip was dislocated.

Fin Hares sustained injuries to the head, ribs and hip. There were fractures to the bones of the face and the right eye socket. He had three fractured ribs and a broken nose. The right thigh bone had been pushed out of the hip joint and he had to undergo emergency surgery to put the bone back in place. The right eyeball was protruding from its socket.

Isobel Smith sustained a fracture to the sternum and a possible fractures to the collar bone and right shoulder. She had tenderness to the spine, shoulder, chest, abdomen and pelvis. She was referred to the spinal and neurosurgery team because of numbness in the back and pain on moving her hips.

The police carried out roadside breath and drug tests on the appellant. Both were negative. The appellant was arrested at the scene at 7 pm whilst undergoing treatment in an ambulance for his minor injuries.

The appellant was interviewed by the police the following day. He was asked a series of standard questions in relation to his eyesight, any use of a mobile phone, and any use of recreational drugs. He answered these questions and thereafter made no comment.

The full investigation of this fatal road traffic accident took several months to complete. We have seen and studied the report of the forensic collision investigation unit. We have also watched the helpful multi-media video presentation prepared by the police, consisting of extracts of CCTV footage at the public house before the vehicles set off, glimpses of the vehicles from roadside properties which the Nissan and the Fiesta passed along the route and, by way of reconstruction, a dashboard video recording of the route the appellant took to the scene of the collision, a distance of about 4 miles.

There was no mechanical defect with the Fiesta. On the approach to the bend where the collision took place there was a series of signs warning of the right-hand bend ahead, as well as double solid white lines for over 400 metres. The conclusion of the report was that the appellant had been unable to maintain the vehicle's position in the road as he negotiated the bend, owing probably to a combination of excessive speed, poor steering and incorrect road positioning. From skid marks and the like it was calculated that the appellant's speed as he attempted to negotiate the bend would have been between 69 and 72 miles per hour, and probably closer to the latter.

It was not until 21 May 2024, 13 months later, that the appellant was served by postal requisition with notice of the charges he would face. His first appearance in the magistrates' court was to be on 25 June 2024.

We note in passing that the documentation which was sent to the appellant when he was served with notice of the charges included the following useful information about the court procedure and about the case : "If you or your solicitor want the details in advance you must contact the prosecutor", and under the heading "Reduced punishment for guilty plea": “The earlier you tell the court you are going to plead guilty the more the punishment is likely to be reduced".

The magistrates' court hearing went ahead on 25 June 2024. No indication of guilty pleas was given at that stage, an issue to which we shall return in more detail shortly.

At the first hearing in the Crown Court the appellant pleaded guilty to all four counts on the indictment, entitling him to 25 per cent credit. The case was adjourned for reports. The sentencing hearing took place on 20 September 2024.