Driver jailed after hitting couple in 90mph chase
A TEARAWAY driver who knocked down and horrifically injured a couple during a 90mph chase has been jailed.
Liam Fisher, 21, who did not have a driving licence, lost control of a Renault Clio and ploughed into a husband and wife on the pavement of the A6 Buxton Road in Stockport.
Both suffered ‘catastrophic’ injuries, a court heard.
The male victim’s leg and arm were broken and he lost an eyelid when he was flung into bushes by the impact of the car, while his partner sustained a potentially life-changing brain injury and two broken thighs.
Fisher, who had cannabis in his system, was pursuing another car at speeds of up to 90mph when a court heard he lost control, ‘clipped’ the central island and hit a lamppost before mowing down the couple, who are in their mid-fifties.
The car finally came to rest on its side. Driving the way he was that day, ‘a tragedy was inevitable,’ the sentencing judge said.
Fisher, who was unharmed in the crash on July 16, was yesterday jailed for three years and four months at Manchester’s Minshull Street Crown Court.
Judge Bernadette Baxter said this was the highest penalty she could give him, with the maximum sentence five years and Fisher entitled to a third credit due to his early guilty plea.
His female victim, who lives in Offerton with her husband, was left with ‘widespread and complex’ injuries, including a potentially ‘lifechanging’ brain injury, which gave her temporary memory loss.
She also suffered open fractures to her thigh bones and breaks to her hand and wrist along with a number of other ‘traumatic’ injuries.
A court was told she is still undergoing medical care and her full prognosis will not be known for at least two years.
Her husband also suffered horrific injuries, including a broken arm, an open fracture of his tibia and facial injuries. He needed more than 20 stitches and spent more than a month in hospital.
The court was told Fisher claimed he had previously swapped vehicles ‘to make some money’ and was pursuing a black Vauxhall Vectra in his Renault Clio as he believed he had left some of his property in the car.
Shirlie Duckworth, prosecuting, said the victims had begun their day ‘like any other Sunday,’ going to church, coming home to eat breakfast before going out for a walk.
However, they changed their normal route which led them right into Fisher’s path at the scene of the smash, on the A6 Buxton Road near the junction with Kennerley Road.
Fisher and his passenger were detained at the scene. The driver of the Vectra was not detained but Miss Duckworth said ‘enquiries were ongoing’ to trace them.
Fisher, of Cawdor Court, Farnworth, Bolton, pleaded guilty to two charges of causing serious injury by dangerous driving, and driving without a licence and insurance at an earlier hearing.
Fisher had already been banned, in 2013, for driving without due care and attention. He did not have a licence at the time of the crash.
Judge Baxter told him: “You showed a flagrant, deliberate and reckless disregard for the rules of the road.
“It was inevitable a tragedy was going to unfold with driving of that manner.”
Jamie Hamilton, defending, said: “In terms of the driving and its consequences, there is very little I can say in mitigation.
“One thing that can be said was it was a relatively short period of dangerous driving, though the court could say it was only cut short by the accident.
“He has shown genuine remorse and was particularly anxious to discover the prognosis of his unfortunate victims.
“All he can do is plead guilty and serve his sentence, which he accepts and wants to do.”
Fisher was also banned from driving for five years.