UK NEWS

'SHOW-OFF' KILLER DRIVER SENT TEENAGERS FLYING

Gemmell was driving a car similar to this one

Thursday November 5,2009

By Allister Hagger

A TEENAGER who killed a 14-year-old girl when his car ploughed into a group of schoolchildren was jailed for six years yesterday.

Ben Gemmell, who turns 18 today, had passed his driving test three weeks before the accident in March.

The court heard he had been “showing off” before the crash, which also put another teenager into a coma.

About 30 youngsters were gathered in a quiet 30mph road in Thorpe Bay, near Southend in Essex.

Gemmell swerved at some of the children to “frighten them” but lost control of his Citroen C1 and ploughed into another group of youngsters further up the road, sending some flying 15ft through the air.

Witness Andrew Jackson saw Gemmell “showing off to girls” in his car, doing a handbrake turn just before the crash. He added: “He no longer had control of that vehicle.

“Within a split second it hit the kerb and ploughed into the large group. The effect was to push those in its path through the brick garden wall.”

Another youngster, Samuel Holt, described the accident as “horrifying, like something from a movie”.

Fourteen children, including Eleanor McGrath, 14, from Shoeburyness, were admitted to hospital. She was transferred to Great Ormond Street Hospital in London with serious head injuries. Her life support machine was switched off four days later.

Jack Horton, 16, also suffered severe head injuries and is still in a coma in a London hospital.

His mother sobbed in the public gallery as the court was told her son remained in a “persistent vegetative state” and that he may never wake up. Basildon Crown Court heard that another seven teenagers sustained serious injuries, including head injuries and broken limbs.

Gemmell, who was at school with many of his victims, pleaded guilty to one count of causing death by dangerous driving and eight counts of causing grievous bodily harm.

He had initially tried to blame the children for causing the crash, claiming one of them had stepped into the gutter causing him to swerve.

Judge Christopher Mitchell sentenced him to six years in custody and banned him from driving for 10 years.

He told the sobbing teenager:“You were showing off. You took a deliberate decision to do what was an inherently dangerous act to deliberately swerve your car towards a group of young people with the intention of frightening them. It did frighten them.

“The harm you have caused by your actions is extensive. There are two families who will never be in the same state.”