Driver caused pals’ deaths
A DRUG-driver was jailed for more than nine years for causing the deaths of two friends in an horrific crash on the M62.
Taryl Moxam, 23, was double the legal limits for alcohol and cannabis when he drove his Vauxhall Insignia vehicle the wrong way up an exit slip road and crashed into a Skoda Octavia coming the other way.
Moxam admitted causing the deaths of father-of-two Adam Afsar, 34, and 27-year-old Jason Wilby, both from Dewsbury, by dangerous driving following the early-hours collision near junction 26 at Chain Bar on Easter Monday last year.
Both men died from multiple injuries and Moxam, who initially claimed he wasn’t the driver, was treated in hospital for injuries to his arm and wrist.
In a later police Moxam, who had no record for bad driving, accepted he was behind the wheel and said he couldn’t apologise enough to the families of the deceased.
Bradford Crown Court heard Moxam, of Barlborough in Derbyshire, had a room booked to stay at a hotel in Leeds that night, but CCT V footage showed him leaving after what appeared to be an incident inside the hotel.
The court was shown CCT V footage which captured Moxam driving the Insignia on the wrong side of the road as he approached the Chain Bar roundabout where he eventually ignored “no entry” signs and the flashing lights of other motorists as he travelled up the slip road the wrong way.
One motorist described Moxam as looking “vacant and oblivious” as he drove 650 metres before crashing into the Skoda.
Barrister James Baird, for Moxam, said his client could still not explain why he chose to drive his car that night.
“The aggravating features in terms of the driving are not in dispute,” said Mr Baird.
“They speak for themselves and of course there are two people who have needlessly lost their lives.”
Judge David Hatton QC told a courtroom packed with family and friends of the deceased that Moxam had engaged in a “grotesque piece of driving.”
He told Moxam: “The consequence of that was the loss of two young lives, the responsibility for which you will have to bear for the remainder of yours.
“As we’ve heard the loss and anguish occasioned to the families of those young men is immeasurable.”
The judge said he had no hesitation in imposing the maximum prison sentence allowed of 14 years, but because Moxam had indicated his guilty pleas at the earliest opportunity in the magistrates court he had to discount the sentence by one third to nine years and four months.
Moxam was also banned from driving for seven years following his release from prison and he must also take an extended retest before lawfully driving a vehicle again on the roads.
Det Sgt Carl Quinn, of the Major Collision Enquiry Team, said: “This was a tragic incident in which two men lost their lives. The deaths of Mr Afsar and Mr Wilby were completely preventable.
“Moxam’s actions that day were nothing less than absurd, his senseless decision to get behind the wheel and drive resulted in utter devastation for the families of these two young men, tragically cutting their lives short.
“No sentence will ever be enough for their families.”