Learner driver jailed over second fatal crash

https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2011/sep/16/learner-driver-jailed-crash

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A learner driver who had previously killed a friend in a drunken motorbike crash was jailed for seven years on Friday after admitting causing the death by dangerous driving of his girlfriend while showing off in his sports car.

Graeme Eden, described as a "speed freak", was guilty of "horrific" driving, Judge Brian Forster told Newcastle crown court.

Eden owned a succession of performance cars after the high-speed motorbike crash in 2002, in which his passenger died, and despite never having passed his test.

After he crashed his Toyota Celica GT4, which had a top speed of 150mph, into an oncoming car, one witness shouted: "What the hell were you driving like that for?"

His partner, 30-year-old Victoria Little, died at the scene after suffering multiple injuries. She was the mother of a nine-year-old daughter.

The crash happened in November on the A183 Chester Road in Penshaw, near Sunderland, when Eden lost control and the car drifted as he accelerated violently past a roundabout.

Glen Gatland, prosecuting, said: "Eden was a learner driver driving a potent and fast motor car, showing off, in adverse conditions, to his long-time partner. That behaviour caused her untimely death."

Eden, 31, of Sunderland, did not react as he was sentenced.

His partner's mother, Sheila Bainbridge, had previously warned him to slow down when she accompanied him in the Celica on the same stretch of road.

She said Eden was a speed freak and had driven so recklessly on that occasion that she felt sick. "Despite my shouting and screaming he would not slow down," the court heard she told police. "He would not take any notice of what I was saying as an experienced driver."

Judge Forster said Eden had "learned little" from his 2002 conviction for causing death by careless driving while under the influence of alcohol. He was giving his friend John Hancock a lift on the back of his Yamaha 600cc machine at Eastgate, County Durham, when they both came off the machine at speed. His pillion passenger ended up in a garden and was killed after hitting a wall.

Eden had consumed 10 pints of lager the night before at a biker rally and was found to be one-and-a-half times over the limit. He was jailed for three years for that offence.

The judge banned Eden from driving for 10 years.

Christopher Morrison, defending, said: "He is adamant he will never take control of any motorised vehicle again."

He was too depressed to work having lost his partner, and his remorse was "palpable", his barrister said.