Sarah Marshall looks at the case of Brandon Varley.
A beloved dad-of-three was killed in a horror crash caused by a teen driver who, while attempting to escape police, ignored a give way sign and collided with another vehicle.
Despite never holding a full driving licence, Brandon Varley was disqualified from driving just two days before the fatal collision on Brierley Road, Grimethorpe, Barnsley.
A beloved dad-of-three was killed in a horror crash caused by a teen driver who, while attempting to escape police, ignored a give way sign and collided with another vehicle.
Despite never holding a full driving licence, Brandon Varley was disqualified from driving just two days before the fatal collision on Brierley Road, Grimethorpe, Barnsley.
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NewsTranscript
00:00 The Star covered a particularly shocking case this week involving the death of an
00:05 innocent passenger in a car. Could you tell us about that please Sarah?
00:08 Yes, certainly. So it involved an 18 year old defendant called Brandon Varley. He was not, he didn't hold a full licence at the time of the fatal crash.
00:18 But despite that he'd been disqualified from driving for other driving matters just two days earlier.
00:23 And essentially what happened is police pulled up behind his Peugeot vehicle. They indicated for him to stop but instead of doing as he was requested,
00:32 he drove off at speed and a police chase subsequently ensued. Varley was seen to be driving dangerously through a residential area.
00:41 And then what happened next was that he failed, he ignored a give way sign at a junction.
00:50 He turned right and crashed into the path of an oncoming vehicle. His 51 year old passenger suffered fatal injuries.
00:58 And he also injured two of the passengers, two women who were in the car that he hit.
01:05 In addition to being injured themselves, the women who were travelling with two children were smell burning and were also forced to go through the trauma
01:13 of fearing that the children inside the car would be killed.
01:17 What sentence did he get?
01:20 He was charged with an offence of causing death by dangerous driving and causing death whilst disqualified from driving.
01:29 And he received a sentence of seven years imprisonment. He was also banned from driving for nine years and eight months.
01:38 It was an initial driving ban of five years with an extension of four years and nine months to reflect the time he's likely to spend in custody.
01:46 After the judge, Judge Sarah Wright, told him that he's likely to spend around two thirds of his sentence in custody.
01:54 What did Judge Sarah Wright say when she sentenced him?
01:58 She said that whilst she accepted that he felt remorse, the fact that Varley has continued to offend in the three years that have passed since the crash
02:09 suggested that the death of his friend has not been a deterrent to stop him from criminal behaviour.
02:16 She also suggested that after reading his pre-sentence report that he had some attitudes that were pro-criminality.
02:24 Did Varley remain at the scene after the collision?
02:28 No, he fled the scene, he ran into the gardens of houses nearby and he failed to hand himself in for around a month.
02:39 And Judge Wright sort of commented on the fact that instead of coming to his friend's aid, he was dying, laying injured in his vehicle.
02:50 He, you know, ran off and tried to look after himself, essentially.
02:56 [BLANK_AUDIO]