Court: Neston man jailed after Flintshire bridge crash

Jimmy Carey, of Howard Court in Neston, appeared at Mold Crown Court for sentence on Wednesday morning.

The 37-year-old, formerly of Girton Close in Ellesmere Port, had previously admitted three counts of causing serious injury by dangerous driving.

Catherine Elvin, prosecuting, told the court that in October last year, police spotted Carey driving a Mercedes C Class on the A55 at 103 miles per hour.

The officers activated their blue lights and siren, but the defendant failed to stop - causing a chase in which he reached speeds of up to 130 miles per hour.

After losing sight of him for about 15 minutes, he passed the officers again and failed to stop.

The pursuit continued, with Carey heading onto the A494 at Queensferry and turning off at the B5129.

He went through two red lights and headed along Station Road towards the Jubilee Bridge at 90 miles per hour - the speed limit there being 30.

At the bridge he tried to overtake another car and crashed head-on into a taxi carrying two passengers.

The driver Florin Dumea, and his passengers, suffered serious injuries, including a fractured hip, foot, ankle and spinal cord. He required two operations and has a 50/50 chance of being able to drive again, Ms Elvin said.

Passenger Liam Czernozukow suffered a laceration and muscle damage to his leg, and had a five hour operation to have a stent inserted in his aorta as it had been torn in the collision. He also had a large laceration across one of his eyes.

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Indyha Hughes, the other passenger, suffered fractured ribs, a black eye which bled, severe memory loss and other injuries.

While still trapped in his vehicle, Carey admitted to officers that he'd been drinking spirits "quite a bit" prior to the incident. 

Simon Mills, defending, said: "We are very lucky in this case that there weren't any fatalities.

"Alcohol clearly played a part here - I accept it's likely he would have been over the limit but we don't know that for a fact.

"Just before lockdown in 2020, [Carey's] brother's life was taken in a stabbing.

"There was a murder trial, and the defendant [in that trial] pleaded guilty to manslaughter.

"So [Carey] was left with the grief of that in the context of everything lockdown brought, plus the family are left with a sense of injustice.

"None of which is an excuse for what he did, it just perhaps makes it slightly easier to understand the black mood the defendant must have been in."

Mr Mills said Carey also suffered a "catastrophic" injury to his leg in the crash.

He added: "The force in the collision shattered his shin.

"Surgeons favoured amputation at an early stage, but the defendant chose not to have an amputation.

"He chose to try and get himself back to the level of recovery himself and he has got himself to the point where he has an 85 per cent chance of being able to keep his leg - subject to two-and-a-half years of rehabilitation.

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"The surgeons would all say prison is not an ideal place for him, but that's their perspective.

"I accept his choices put him in that position, and whatever the court does to him today, his life is also changed forever."

Judge Niclas Parry told the defendant: "You understand that you could have killed three people and yourself.

"You had, by your own admission, been drinking heavily.

"But I accept you are genuinely remorseful and you yourself suffered life changing injuries.

"Custody will prove to be far more difficult for you because of that."

Judge Parry said there were no sentencing guidelines for a crime such as Carey's, but that the maximum sentence was something the court had to abide by.

He added: "I say this for the public - there is a maximum sentence of five years.

"The person who pleads guilty is entitled to one third credit, immediately.

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"And because this is one incident, the court is simply not permitted to add one sentence to another, to another.

"It must be one sentence, limited by that maximum.

"If ever there was a case that underlines that sometimes, the maximum sentence is too low - this may well be one.

"But that is the limitation under which these courts work."

Giving him credit for his pleas, Judge Parry jailed the defendant for 32 months and banned him from driving for three years, with an additional 16 months to reflect the custodial element of his sentence before he will be eligible for release on licence.