Driver who sped down A-road at 90mph and mowed down couple left female victim with life-changing brain injuries
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A 'wicked' driver who sped down an A-road at 90mph and moved down a couple, leaving the female victim with life-changing brain injuries, has been jailed .
Liam Fisher, 21, who lost control of a Renault Clio and ploughed into the husband and wife, had never passed a driving test or held a licence.
Both suffered ‘catastrophic’ injuries, a court heard , after being run down on the pavement of the A6 Buxton Road in Stockport, Mancheste
The male victim’s leg and arm were broken and he lost an eyelid when he was flung into bushes by the impact of the car, while his partner sustained a potentially life-changing brain injury and two broken thighs.
Fisher, who had cannabis in his system, was pursuing another car at speeds of up to 90mph when a court heard he lost control, ‘clipped’ the central island and hit a lamppost before mowing down the couple, who are in their mid-fifties.
The car finally came to rest on its side, reports the Manchester Evening News .
(Image: MEN Media)
Driving the way he was that day, ‘a tragedy was inevitable’, the sentencing judge said.
Fisher, who was unharmed in the crash in July, was jailed on Friday for three years and four months at Manchester’s Minshull Street Crown Court.
The young man, dressed in a black Adidas tracksuit, showed no emotion as he was led away.
Judge Bernadette Baxter said this was the highest penalty she could give him, with the maximum sentence five years and Fisher entitled to a third credit due to his early guilty plea.
His female victim was left with ‘widespread and complex’ injuries, including a potentially ‘life changing’ brain injury, which gave her temporary memory loss.
She also suffered open fractures to her thigh bones and breaks to her hand and wrist, along with a number of other ‘traumatic’ injuries.
A court was told she is still undergoing medical care and her full prognosis will not be known for at least another two years.
(Image: MEN WS)
(Image: MEN WS)
Her husband, who was thrown into some bushes at the side of pavement, also suffered horrific injuries, including a broken left arm, an open fracture of his tibia, and facial injuries in which he lost an eyelid and needed more than 20 stitches.
He also required operations and developed an infection meaning he spent more than a month in hospital.
The court was told Fisher claimed he'd previously swapped vehicles ‘to make some money’ and was pursuing a black Vauxhall Vectra in his Renault Clio as he believed he'd left some of his property in the car.
CCTV footage, and police dashcam footage played in court showed the vehicles ‘in tandem’ before the high speed chase, which covered a distance of 500-600 yards, including Fisher skipping three red lights.
Shirlie Duckworth, prosecuting, said the victims had begun their day ‘like any other Sunday’, going to church, coming home to eat breakfast before going out for a walk.
However the court was told that tragically they changed their normal route which led them right into Fisher’s path at the scene of the smash, on the A6 Buxton Road near the junction with Kennerley Road, at around 11.30am on Sunday, July 16.
Both the Vectra and the Clio were seen by an stationary unmarked police car which began following them just a few seconds before the crash occurred.
(Image: MEN WS)
Fisher and his passenger were detained at the scene and he initially told officers it was the other man who was driving, something the judge described as a ‘wicked thing to do.’
The driver of the Vectra was not detained but Miss Duckworth said ‘enquiries were ongoing’ to trace them.
Fisher, of Cawdor Court, Farnworth, Bolton , pleaded guilty to two charges of causing serious injury by dangerous driving , as well as driving without a licence and insurance at an earlier hearing.
Fisher has never had a licence and has already been banned from the road, in 2013, for driving without due care and attention. He also had cannabis in his system, though experts were unable to say when he had taken it.
Judge Baxter told him: “For reasons still unclear to me you were driving in pursuit of a Vauxhall Vectra.
“You showed a flagrant, deliberate and reckless disregard for the rules of the road.
“It was inevitable a tragedy was going to unfold with driving of that manner.
(Image: MEN WS)
“Then, knowing that those people must be gravely injured, went about lying to the police and trying to blame your passenger.
“I accept you an extremely naive and immature man but even so that was a wicked thing to do.
“Thankfully you realised that very quickly and entered a guilty plea.
“(The victims) were perfectly decent, ordinary people going about their Sunday as they normally would.
“Their injuries were truly horrific and that is your fault.”
Jamie Hamilton, defending, said: “In reality, in terms of the driving and its consequences, there is very little I can say in mitigation.
“One thing that can be said was that it was a relatively short period of dangerous driving, though the court could say it was only cut short by the accident.
“He has shown genuine remorse and was particularly anxious to discover the prognosis of his unfortunate victims.
“All he can do is plead guilty and serve his sentence, which he accepts and wants to do.”
He was also banned from driving for five years.