20-year-old jailed after passenger died in stolen car crash in Yorkshire

On Sunday July 26, 2024, roads policing officers responded to calls from Yorkshire Ambulance Service that a Ford Mondeo had been involved in a collision on Goodison Boulevard in Doncaster.

Upon officers’ arrival, the passenger of the vehicle, 30-year-old Aiden Allen, was sadly pronounced dead and the driver, Joshua Rafferty, was trapped inside.

Officers from South Yorkshire Police identified that the vehicle Rafferty had been driving on his provisional licence, with no insurance, had been reported stolen and was on cloned plates.

From witnesses and evidence, officers began to understand that Rafferty had been driving the car at speed, and on approaching a left-hand bend, lost control, mounted a kerb and collided with a lamppost before ploughing into an electric box.

Rafferty was taken to hospital, where wraps of Class A drugs were recovered from his socks.

A blood sample was taken from Rafferty which showed he was over the prescribed limit for alcohol and had cocaine in his system.

On Friday April 4 at Sheffield Crown Court, Rafferty was sentenced to nine years in prison and disqualified from driving for 15 years and three months.

Investigating Officer PC Natalie Booler from the Serious Collisions Unit said: “My thoughts remain with those affected by Aiden’s loss.

“Driving under the influence of drugs is one of the four most common contributing factors to fatal collisions and on that night, Rafferty got behind the wheel of that car knowing he was in no fit state or had a licence to drive.

“Rafferty was the driver of that vehicle - he had control, he made the decisions and his actions killed Aiden.”