Two speeding drivers jailed for fatal crash

Two speeding drivers have been jailed for causing death by dangerous driving after crashing at a traffic lights junction.

A stolen blue Ford Fiesta collided with a grey VW Golf on Norton Road in Pelsall, Walsall, shortly before midnight on 23 June, 2021.

James Sheridan, 21, was a back seat passenger in the Fiesta and died from his injuries at the scene.

Ethan Holness and Frederick Rogers were jailed for a total of 17 and a half years at Wolverhampton Crown Court on Friday.

Investigators established that the Fiesta, driven by Holness, had been travelling at up to 72mph in a 30 mph zone as it approached the lights at the junction with Lichfield Road and Wolverhampton Road.

It went through those lights as they turned amber but travelling in the opposite direction was the Golf, being driven by Rogers at about 60mph.

The Golf also went through the junction despite the lights being on red and the cars collided.

Rogers failed a roadside breath test and a further blood sample showed he had 111 milligrams of alcohol in 100 millilitres of blood - the legal limit is 80.

Forensic work showed that Holness was driving the Fiesta which had been stolen two days earlier in the Telford area and was travelling on cloned plates.

Rogers, 34, and Holness, 20, were both sentenced for causing death by dangerous driving at Wolverhampton Crown Court on Friday.

Holness, aged 20, of Dickinson Avenue in Wolverhampton, was sentenced to seven years and six months in prison and disqualified from driving for five years.

To drive again, he will have to pass an extended test once the disqualification ends.

Holness was also given a concurrent sentence for stealing the Fiesta.

Rogers, aged 34, of Hospital Lane in Cheslyn Hay, Staffordshire, was sentenced to 10 years in prison and disqualified from driving for six years and seven months.

He will also have to pass an extended test once the disqualification has ended.

Det Sgt Julie Lyman, from West Midlands Police's Serious Collision Investigation Unit, said: "This was a complex investigation and through forensic work we have pieced together what happened that evening. Our thoughts remain with the family and friends of James.”

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