Driver who killed teenage passenger in crash driving one-handed jailed

A 'lunatic' driver who killed his teenage passenger in a horror crash after speeding at 90mph with only one hand on the wheel so he could smoke a vape has been jailed.

Finley Wood, then 20, ignored calls to slow down as he hurtled down country lanes near Whitchurch, Cheshire, with only two fingers controlling the car.

But tragedy struck when Wood took one corner too fast and veered onto the wrong side of the road. He then swerved to avoid oncoming traffic, lost control and ploughed into a tree.

Barman Felix Davies, 19, who was in the front passenger seat suffered multiple fatal injuries in the impact outside a former monastery on the A525 near Whitchurch, Cheshire and died at the scene.

University student Isobel Smith, 19, Fin Hares, 18, and Daniel Kettle, 23, who were in the back of the car were badly hurt with Daniel sustaining multiple fractures of the skull and bleeding on the brain.

Inquiries revealed in the moments before the crash on Easter Sunday last year, Wood had been 'showing off' in his Ford Fiesta and was trying to 'keep up' with another driver as they were travelling in convoy to the annual Nantwich Jazz Festival.

In a statement Miss Smith who suffered a dislocated shoulder, damage to her hip, broken ribs and crushed sternum said: 'Easter Sunday of 2023 will be a day I wish I could forget for the rest of my life. 

She added that she could remember 'everything' from the accident and that the 'trauma' would affect her forever.

'I now cannot get into a car without my anxiety making me believe it's going to happen again,' Miss Smith explained.

Mr Hares who suffered injuries to his hip, right eye socket and and thigh, plus fractured ribs and broken nose, said: 'The trauma and memory of the accident will always be with me. It still affects me to this day.

'I was not myself for a long period of time. I had mood swings, depression and anger. I suffer with severe anxiety because of the crash and I still have recurring nightmares that I am trapped, waking up terrified, believing that I was still there.

'This tragedy shows how the actions of one person can change the outcome of so many people's lives.'

Wood, of Whitchurch suffered minor injuries in the crash and in the immediate aftermath was overheard talking on the phone to his parents saying the car was 'totalled.' 

He passed drink and drug tests but gave no comment in police interview.

At Chester Crown Court he admitted causing death and serious injury by dangerous driving and will be banned from driving for five years when he is freed from jail in the year 2031.

Sentencing Judge Steven Everett told him: 'So many lives have been totally ruined for what was on that one occasion a selfish disregard for anyone's safety in your car.

'You drove on what was not the easiest of roads far too fast, regrettably, I am afraid like some young people do. When will they learn that a motor vehicle can be a lethal weapon in the hands of the wrong person?

'Your Fiesta was the lethal weapon on this occasion and it was not as if you did not have any warnings. 

'People in the car told you to slow down. You were holding a vape in your hand, driving effectively one handed at ridiculously high speeds, 90mph at one stage certainly, if not at that stage of the crash. 

'You were far too fast. That is why the crash occurred because you could not control that vehicle.'

The judge added: 'It is difficult to even begin to calculate the grief and the loss that will always be felt for what was a much loved young man, not just by his family but by his whole community. 

'A decent young man who, it seems, could light up a room if he went into it. The injuries to the others were horrendous.

She continued: 'I find it astonishing that you were driving with effectively two fingers and holding a vape. At least two of your passengers told how frightened they were and how you were told to slow down. Goodness knows why you did not.

'All I can do is pass a deterrent sentence so that if other young people are tempted to drive cars like a lunatic that they think twice. If for that reason and nothing else this stops people driving like a lunatic that would be something.'

The tragedy occurred on April 9 after the group met up at the White Lion pub in the Shropshire village of Ash Magna. At 6pm they set off in convoy to go to the jazz festival with Wood following another car being driven by Matthew Williams.

Miss Ember-Jade Wong, prosecuting 'Isobel Smith described that throughout the journey it appeared to her that the defendant was trying to keep up with Matthew Williams's vehicle, with the vehicle being some distance ahead. 

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Wong said: 'She (Isobel) saw the defendant had two fingers on the bottom of the steering wheel with a vape in the other hand. The defendant swerved to avoid the oncoming vehicles but lost control of his Fiesta crashing up a verge into a tree.

'All Isobel remembered of the initial aftermath is Daniel Kettle saying "Oh my God. I am dead." Mr Kettle himself recalled the defendant overtaking another car, feeling unsafe and when he looked down at the speedometer he saw the defendant was driving at 90mph.'

Wood, now 21, was seen by one witness walking around with his head in his hands swearing and crying. His counsel Deborah White said in mitigation: 'He shows remorse and that remorse is genuine. 

'There is not a single day or night goes by when he does not think about Felix his family, knowing he can do nothing to bring Felix back and that haunts him and that will haunt him for the rest of his life.'

Felix's mother Liane Dooley said: 'I'm not out for revenge on Finley Wood. It could quite easily have been Felix or any of his friends in the driver's seat. We have all been young and done things and we all make mistakes.

'But I do need Finley to really show that he understands what he did and not try to minimise it. I need him to take accountability for killing my son.. I hope Finley would use his experience to speak to other young people about the risks of dangerous driving - then maybe what happened to Felix could perhaps save somebody else's life.'