Man, 22, charged over death crash

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A 22-year-old man has been charged in connection with a crash in a stolen car that killed two women.

Daniel Witter, 22, of Leeds, will appear at Bradford Magistrates' Court later accused of causing the deaths of Janet Herd and Linda Tansley.

They died after their Ford Fiesta was in a collision with a stolen Mercedes.

Mr Witter was charged with two counts of causing death by dangerous driving, aggravated vehicle taking causing death, and other road traffic offences.

Another man, also aged 22, has been released on police bail pending further inquiries.

Two 15-year-old girls and a 19-year-old woman, who were passengers in the Mercedes CLK 200, have been released without charge.

School reunion

The crash happened near the junction of Apperley Road and Harrogate Road, close to the Stansfield Arms pub, in the Apperley Bridge area on Wednesday night.

Ms Herd and Ms Tansley, both 48, were from the Eccleshill area of Bradford.

Mrs Herd, a widowed mother of two adult daughters, was on her way home from a reunion of a group of friends who had attended Eccleshill Upper School.

In a statement released by police, her family said: "Janet was a valued member of the local community, working as a teaching assistant at Thornton Primary School and had been a local Brownie leader for over 10 years."

Mrs Tansley had been married to her husband Stephen for 19 years and was mother to 14-year-old twins, a boy and a girl, her family said.

"Linda and Stephen worked together in the family's confectionery business and she always looked forward to the annual reunion with her school friends," a family statement said.

The stolen Mercedes was spotted by a police officer near Harrogate Road and followed by a patrol car for around 75 seconds before the collision.

The Independent Police Complaints Commission said it had completed its investigation into the crash and would be taking no further action.