Jail for road rage driver who killed teen with car
Motorist chased moped after victim knocked wing mirror off
AN angry driver who killed a teenager in Birmingham when he pursued and hit a moped after a road rage incident has been jailed for 11 years.
Paul Biggs “used his car as a weapon” to knock 16-year-old Liam Mooney off the machine on which he was a pillion passenger before speeding away.
He and his car passenger, Dale Sharpen, then tried to cover their tracks by getting rid of their phones and disposing of the car.
Biggs, 26, of Brentwood, Essex, and Dale Sharpen, 31, of Woodford Green, north-east London, had previously denied a charge of murder.
They were both due to stand trial at Birmingham Crown Court but both admitted the manslaughter of Mr Mooney, which was accepted by the prosecution.
They also both admitted assaulting the 18-year-old who had been driving the moped.
Biggs has now been jailed for 11 years and three months and disqualified from driving for 12 and a half years.
Judge Francis Laird sentenced Sharpen to nine years.
He passed concurrent sentences of 16 months on the assault charge on both defendants.
Adrian Keeling QC, prosecuting, said that on the evening of March 22 last year Biggs, who was driving a Volvo, had come to the Perry Barr area with Sharpen from London.
He said Mr Mooney and the 18-year-old moped driver had met up with two others and that they had been driving around the area on two mopeds for fun.
At around 7pm they reached a roundabout on Rocky Lane which the first bike negotiated.
The Volvo then went on to the roundabout and braked, causing the second moped to brake and swerve round it.
As they were going past on the bike, Mr Mooney kicked out towards the passenger side of the car, knocking the wing mirror off.
Mr Keeling said it was that which then prompted what happened next.
He told the court: “The Volvo made the quite deliberate decision, rather than stop, to pursue the motorbike at some speed down Rocky Lane.”
He told the court the driver of the moped “made the decision to try and escape from the car by going up a curb but the Volvo made impact with the back of the bike and that caused him to lose control.
“He swerved off to the left-hand side and crashed into the back of a stationary car.
“The defendants must have known what had happened but then sped off.”
Mr Keeling said the two on the
other moped returned to the scene and found Mr Mooney unconscious and fatally injured.
He was taken to the Queen Elizabeth Hospital but nothing could be done to save him.
The 16-year-old was found to have suffered injuries including a fractured skull and a fracture to the spine.
In a statement the victim’s mother Laura Brown said: “On March 23 our lives changed forever when our beloved son was taken away from us.
“He had a smile and personality that was infectious and he lit up every room he entered.”
Ian Henderson QC, for Biggs, said: “These events took place over a short distance and over a short period of time. He genuinely regrets his actions.”
Michael Ivers QC, for Sharpen, said: “It was a matter of 20 to 30 seconds between the wing mirror being kicked off and the crash. It was very much spur of the moment and without any degree of planning.”