Drink-driver who killed sister's partner jailed

A drink-driver who killed his sister's partner when the car they were travelling in crashed into a wall after being driven at speed down a residential street has been jailed.

Benjamin Gabriel was more than twice the drink-drive limit and had taken cocaine before the collision in Birstall on 3 February 2023, Leeds Crown Court had heard.

Front seat passenger Nic Biddle, 37, died as a result of the injuries he suffered in the crash, while a 17-year-old boy in the rear of the vehicle was also seriously hurt.

Sentencing him on Monday to six years and eight months, His Honour Judge Anesh Pema told Gabriel, 26, his decision to get behind the wheel had been "insane".

Gabriel, of Rawfolds Avenue in Birstall, who had earlier pleaded guilty to one charge of causing death by dangerous driving and another of causing serious injury by dangerous driving, was also banned from driving for eight years and four months.

The court was told that Gabriel had been out drinking Foster's lager and blue WKD at a sports bar in Birstall with a group of friends, including Mr Biddle, on the night of the crash.

He was captured on CCTV leaving the bar at about 11:40 GMT, before getting into his Volkswagen Golf and driving off with four passengers also in the vehicle.

In the 20 seconds before the crash shortly after midnight, Gabriel had, with "encouragement" from others within the car, travelled down Church Lane - a street with a 30mph (48 km/h) limit - at a maximum speed of 76mph (122 km/h), the court heard.

He had failed to stop at the junction with Bradford Road and crashed into the wall of a front garden at about 58mph (93 km/h).

The court was told that Mr Biddle, a father of four children, died from injuries to his head and neck despite wearing a seatbelt.

Meanwhile, the 17-year-old who was in the car who, the court was told, chose not give a victim impact statement to police, was treated in hospital for a lacerated chin, injuries to his skull and bruising to his brain.

The other two passengers, as well as Gabriel, escaped without serious injury.

Mitigating for Gabriel, Richard Dawson said no sentence imposed by the court could "prove greater punishment for this young man than the level of torment he daily inflicts upon himself".

It was said that Gabriel, who had no previous convictions or driving penalty points against his name, had suffered PTSD and depression since the collision.

Addressing Gabriel, His Honour Judge Anesh Pema said: "The influence of alcohol, and indeed cocaine, was almost certainly a precipitating cause of the insane decision you took to drive that night."

He added that Mr Biddle's children had "lost their father because of the senseless, reckless act on your part, of which you are fully aware".

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