A VODKA-DRINKING boy racer who sped away from chasing police at speeds of more than 100mph before crashing into a line of traffic which left two victims with life-changing injuries has been jailed.
Billy Morrison, of Engine Lane, Grimethorpe, denied driving the Mitsubishi Shogun - which was recorded at a speed of 111mph - but later accepted responsibility and pleaded guilty to two counts of causing injury by dangerous driving, driving while disqualified, driving without insurance, driving while unfit through drink or drugs and failing to provide a specimen of breath.
The 20-year-old was arrested after the incident on September 18 - which took place in Skipton-on-Swale - and resulted in CCTV being unearthed of the youngster driving on the hard shoulder to undertake vehicles and missing oncoming cars ‘by inches’ before the collision occurred.
A passenger in one of the vehicles - a woman in her 80s - suffered 11 different bone fractures due to the impact and was taken to hospital with cracked ribs, vertebrae and ankle bones and is still recovering from her injuries.
A roadside breath test suggested he was more than twice the legal drink-drive limit but Morrison - who was banned just three weeks before the incident - refused to provide a formal sample back at the police station.
He also tested positive for cocaine and cannabis.
His 19-year-old passenger, also from Barnsley, was seriously injured in the crash and suffered a broken pelvis.
He claimed Morrison had been swigging from a vodka bottle and puffing on a cannabis joint during their early-morning journey from Barnsley to Newcastle to pick up a new car.
Morrison was remanded in custody and appeared before a judge at York Crown Court last Friday to be sentenced.
Judge Simon Hickey said Morrison showed ‘complete disregard’ for other road users during ‘a horrific series of manoeuvres’.
He added that he had no option but to impose the maximum sentence available for the type of offences, and jailed him for three years and nine months.
He was also banned from driving for a further eight years and ten months and will have to take an extended retest to get his licence back.
After the sentencing, Detective Sergeant Kirsten Aldridge, who led the police investigation, said: “He’d reached speeds of 111mph after police tried to pull him over before the crash.
“Morrison showed no regard whatsoever for the lives of other road users, and left two people with horrendous injuries that have changed their lives.
“This incident has no doubt also had a lasting impact on those who he narrowly missed whilst trying to evade police.
“To then lie to us about who was driving and try to blame his actions on someone else was nothing short of cowardly and deceitful.
“Driving while banned may seem like a minor offence to some people, but this case illustrates the contempt for the law and the risk to the public that disqualified drivers can pose, which is why we work so hard to get them off our roads.”
