Judge blames ‘over-indulgent’ parents as he jails teenager over fatal car crash

A judge condemned the parents of a teenager who killed two friends in a crash for “over-indulging” him as he jailed him for six years.

Owain Hammett-George was 17 and had passed his driving test only three months earlier when he drove at more than double the speed limit and lost control of the Alfa Romeo bought for him by his businessman father Dewi George, 47.

His passengers Ben Rogers and Kaitlyn Davies, both 19, died in the crash and a third passenger Casey Thomas, then 17, suffered a brain injury and a broken neck.

Hammett-George, now 19, admitted causing death by dangerous driving, death by careless driving and causing serious injury by dangerous driving.

Swansea Crown Court heard that as well as buying the £21,000 Alfa Romeo MiTo with a personalised number plate spelling OW11AAN for his son, Mr George lied to take licence points for his son after he was caught speeding just days after passing his test.

The court was also told that in the weeks before the crash, Hammett-George had been warned by his mother and sister about his driving.

Passing sentence on Thursday, Judge Geraint Walters told Hammett-George, whom he also banned from driving for eight years, that being spoilt by his parents had been partly to blame for his offending.

He added: “You are over-indulged: a car before you were fit to have one, out late in the evening with other youngsters in the car, and it’s not irrelevant to point to evidence that your parents were aware of the danger. There were messages between family members to say so.

“The greatest act of over-indulgence is the taking of the responsibility of your conduct on to your father – a choice he made but it underlines the over-indulgence that lies at the heart of this offence.”

On the night of the crash, Hammett-George had been doing an average of 70-78mph in a 30mph zone, and at the point he lost control was going even faster.

Ian Wright, prosecuting, said the high speeds were captured on CCTV before the car approached a petrol station in Bishopston, Gower.

He said: “The defendant lost control of his vehicle and it left the carriageway to its off-side towards the petrol station forecourt, where it hit a grass banking area that projected the car into the air. The vehicle landed on its roof, it rotated before coming into contact with a concrete pillar in front of one of the petrol pumps.

“The defendant and two of the passengers were projected from the vehicle.”

Mr Wright said Hammett-George had not been wearing a seatbelt but had buckled the belt under him to prevent a warning alarm being activated.

He said Mr Rogers and Ms Davies, who were in the back seat, were thrown from the car and sustained “catastrophic and unsurvivable injuries”.

“The front seat passenger, Casey-Lee Thomas, was wearing a seatbelt,” Mr Wright went on.

“She suffered very significant injuries, life-changing injuries but has made a remarkable physical recovery. The psychological effects of the collision are likely to be lifelong.

“Two experienced road policing officers described the damage to the defendant’s vehicle as the worst they had ever witnessed in two decades.”

Hammett-George told South Wales Police officers at the scene he had been driving at 60mph and had lost control on striking a pothole, but no pothole was ever found.

His father was jailed last year for four months after admitting to perverting the course of justice.

Alex Greenwood, defending, read a letter from Hammett-George saying: “If I could turn back time and prevent this tragedy from happening I would do so in a heartbeat.”

Mr Greenwood said his client suffered serious injuries himself including a series of broken bones throughout his body and a head injury which left him with “no memory” of the crash.

Judge Walters told Hammett-George: “On this particular evening you were in your motor car with three young friends. You were showing off. You drove at grossly excessive speeds to the point you lost control of the vehicle and extinguished the lives of two of those in your car, leaving the third with life-changing consequences both physical and emotional.

“I have no shadow of a doubt that you purposely took the decision to exceed the speed limit. You were nowhere near ready to be entrusted with a motor car at the time that you were. You are immature.”