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130mph death driver on drugs

By Staff Reporter

A YOUNG driver who killed one person and severely injured two others when his overloaded open-topped Mini Cooper overturned in a high-speed crash has been jailed for eight years.

Mark Houghton, 20, was driving at 130mph shortly before the four-seater car, crammed with six people and a dog, crashed on the old A66 at Great Clifton in January.

He was also under the influence of drink and cocaine and laughed off his passengers’ pleas for him to slow down.

The judge at Carlisle Crown Court told him the circumstances of the crash which killed 27-year-old Andrew Thompson were about as bad as they could have been.

She banned him from driving for 10 years.

Afterwards Insp Terry Bathgate, of the Western Roads Policing Unit, said he hoped the sentence would act as a deterrent to other drivers.

And Mr Thompson’s father John issued a statement backing the police’s campaign to reduce the number of deaths on Cumbria’s roads. “Our lives will never be the same again and the lives of the other young people in that car have also been changed by serious injury,” he said. “Mark Houghton will now pay the penalty. We hope that his jail sentence will serve as a deterrent to others.”

The court heard that Houghton, of Main Road, Flimby, was driving two men and three young women in his “pride and joy” – a blue open-topped Mini Cooper convertible – when it overturned after crashing into a grass bank in the early hours of January 29.

All six occupants were thrown out of the car and even the two who escaped serious injury needed hospital treatment.

Daniel Morton, 26, of Workington, who was in the front passenger seat, suffered appalling brain injuries which left him in a coma for 13 days. He attended the hearing yesterday in a wheelchair and, the court heard, is unlikely ever to recover from the injuries which have left him with a changed personality and needing 24-hour care.

Sian Grant, 21, of Eaglesfield, near Cockermouth, who was sitting on his knee and sharing his seatbelt, with the dog at her feet, suffered only cuts, bruises and three broken ribs.

But Mr Thompson, who was on the back seat and like the others was flung from the car, suffered dreadful injuries and died at the scene. Jade McDowell, 14, of Barfs Road, Distington, suffered a severe brain injury and was in intensive care for three weeks. She too was in a wheelchair yesterday and, the court heard, could need help for years.

Bianca Collins, 17, of Casson Road, the third person squeezed onto the back seat, suffered cuts to her face.

Prosecutor Dick Binstead told the court Houghton was so badly hurt police could not properly ascertain his alcohol level, but a blood test showed he was definitely over the drink-drive limit and had been taking cocaine.

Houghton pleaded guilty to causing Mr Thompson’s death by dangerous driving.

He also admitted obtaining motor insurance by deception, by failing to disclose a previous convictions for careless driving.

In mitigation defence barrister Tim Evans said: “For the rest of his life he must bear the burden of the consequences of what he has done.”

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