A DENTON man has been jailed and a work colleague from Hyde given a suspended prison sentences for their part in ‘competitive racing’ which left one woman in a coma.
Tyler Campbell and Charlie Walker, along with Nickalos Dean, a colleague at National Tyres, sped along the roads at almost twice the speed limit in Vauxhall Corsas, one of which was ‘stolen.’
Manchester’s Minshull Street Crown Court heard that at Hyde Road at Debdale, just over the border from Denton into Gorton, Mariama Tangigora, who was 44 at the time, had just got off a bus and was crossing the road when she was hit by the Corsa Campbell was driving and thrown into the air, landing on a pavement.
She spent eight months in hospital with serious multiple injuries, two of them in a coma, and is still recovering.
The court was told she needs ongoing care.
Lisa Boocock, prosecuting, told how the trio – Dean described as the assistant manager and Campbell and Walker as tyre fitters at the firm on Stockport Road in Denton – should have taken a Corsa received as part of a contract with hire firm Enterprise, inside the garage and the keys put in a safe.
Instead, Campbell and Walker ‘stole’ the Corsa and left the garage ‘in convoy’ with Dean, who was driving his own car, also a Corsa, at about 6pm on February 8, 2024.
Ms Boocock said the two drivers ‘engaged in dangerous driving’ she described as ‘competitive.’
Campbell was said to have been travelling at 57mph and Dean at about 51mph in the 30mph zone where the collision then happened, as Campbell, the court heard, went to overtake a bus.
It was also told neither he nor Walker check on Ms Tangigora or called the emergency services.
In a statement, she said: “I still do not remember what happened to me on the day of the crash.
“My life is different. I hope one day I will be fully better.”
Campbell, 23 and of Pilling Street, Denton, pleaded guilty to causing serious injury by dangerous driving and aggravated vehicle taking. He was jailed for 28 months.
Walker, also 23 and of Oldham Street, Hyde, admitted aggravated vehicle taking, knowingly getting into a car taken without authority.
He was jailed for six months, suspended for 12 months.
Dean, 26, admitted dangerous driving. He was jailed for 12 months, suspended for a year, and ordered to complete 200 hours of unpaid work.
Recorder Geoff Lowe said: “You all realised that you were culpable in one way or another.”