Underage driver locked up after death crash

A 15-year-old boy who crashed a stolen van and killed his passenger has been locked up for four-and-a-half years.

The boy, who is from Rugby but cannot be named, used the van as a 'deadly weapon' - driving it at speeds of up to 70mph along residential streets before losing control.

Oliver Hawker, 17, was thrown through the passenger window and died at the scene.

Minutes before the crash, the 15-year-old had deliberately hit a parked car in which a man and woman were sat.

In court it emerged the boy - who had a string of convictions going back to the age of ten - had already been arrested and released on bail three times for recent allegations of burglary and aggravated vehicle taking.

An angry Judge Alan Parker, sentencing him at Warwick Crown Court, said whoever was responsible for bailing him 'needs to search their consciences'.

The boy had previously pleaded guilty to causing death by dangerous driving, along with dangerous driving, burglary, aggravated vehicle taking causing death, having no licence or insurance and twice failing to stop after accidents.

Prosecutor Theresa Thorpe said that on April 3, he and a 13-year-old boy, who also cannot be named, broke into a house in Lime Tree Avenue, Bilton.

They stole a laptop computer and keys to a Peugeot van which they took from the drive, with the 15-year-old driving.

They drove around for two hours and picked up Oliver, known as Ollie, who joined them in the front of the three-seat van – but did not put on a seatbelt.

Shortly after 4.30pm police took a call about an accident outside the Costcutter shop in Bilton Road, where a man had stayed in his Toyota Yaris while his girlfriend went into the shop.

The man, with his girlfriend back in the car, then saw the van flying into the parking area at high speed, mounting the kerb and hitting a bin and then a lampost.

He then watched in horror as the van - with the three occupants laughing - was deliberately driven into his car, causing £1,750 damage to the wing and bonnet.

The van was driven off, cutting across oncoming traffic, onto the wrong side of the road.

Then just two minutes later there was a report of a horrific crash two miles away in Parkfield Road, Newbold, a residential street with Newbold Riverside Primary School nearby.

The 15-year-old had lost control of the van - which was doing 50 to 70mph despite parked cars and speed bumps - on the approach to a humped zebra crossing.

It veered across the road and demolished a crossing beacon before colliding with a tree and a lamppost, then spun round and landed on its side before returning to its wheels.

The 13-year-old climbed out and was arrested nearby, but the defendant ran from the scene, although he handed himself in to Rugby police three hours later.

He admitted the burglary and stealing the van, and that he was responsible for both crashes.

He said Ollie was angry at the way he was driving after the first crash, so he had asked him if he wanted to get out – but he decided to stay.

But the boy said as he turned into Parkfield Road at about 25mph both passengers had egged him on to drive faster.

Miss Thorp added the boy had previous convictions for robbery and arson, as well as four for house burglaries and two for taking cars.

He had been bailed on February 1 after being arrested for an allegation of attempted burglary, bailed again over a charge of aggravated vehicle taking, and bailed for a third time on March 21 over another alleged attempted house burglary.

David Everett, defending, said he had spoken to the boy. He told the judge: "He says he would like to go back in time to change the circumstances, but knows he can’t.

"He has said he is very sorry. He is absolutely devastated by the loss of Oliver.

"He knows he will go to custody and at some stage in his life he will walk free, but he knows Oliver will never be able to do that again.

"He has been out of control and been offending since he was ten. He is determined this is the thing that will change his life and that he will not get involved in offending again."

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