Just 2 years’ jail for ‘selfie’ driver who lef t woman in a wheelchair
A DRIVER who took a selfie after a head-on smash which left a grandmother in a wheelchair has been jailed for two years.
Connor Young, 21, ploughed his souped-up Renault Clio into Barry and Jennifer Fleming’s Audi TT as the couple headed back to Glasgow after an evening’s drive.
He then took a selfie on his phone while sitting in his wrecked car.
Mrs Fleming, 48, suffered multiple injuries including a compound fracture of the right ankle.
Stirling Sheriff Court heard she is still in ‘extreme pain’, has post-traumatic stress and her leg may have to be amputated.
Mr Fleming, 40, sustained a fractured sternum, collapsed lung and injuries to his knee and shoulder. He could face further surgery.
Sheriff Simon Collins said it was ‘doubtful at best’ that the couple would fully recover, and he described Mrs Fleming’s injuries as ‘life-changing’.
The smash happened on the A833 near the Falkirk Wheel after Young swung out to overtake, crossing double white lines.
At an earlier hearing, Young, of Bonnybridge, Stirlingshire, was found guilty of causing serious injury by dangerous driving in June 2017. When he returned to court for sentencing yesterday, Sheriff Collins said Young had told social workers the smash was an ‘unfortunate accident’ but the jury had been satisfied the former labourer’s driving was dangerous.
He added: ‘He [Young] was repeatedly overtaking or attempting to overtake when it was unsafe over a relatively long distance.
‘Ultimately he crossed doublewhite lines on a blind bend causing a head-on collision that Mr Fleming, the driver of the other car, was powerless to prevent. It is surprising, perhaps extremely fortunate, that no one was killed.’ He rejected a plea from Young’s solicitor advocate, Martin Morrow, to keep his client out of jail.
Mr Morrow said Young was from a ‘decent’ family and had been assessed as ‘vulnerable in exposure to a prison environment’.
Young was also banned from driving for three years.
Outside court, Mrs Fleming said: ‘He has ruined our lives.’
Her husband said: ‘He deserved five years. That car in his hands was like a loaded gun.’