Death driver lied to police in the aftermath of Leeds Stonegate Road horror crash

After fleeing the crash scene, the defendant rang his mother and asked her to come and pick him up.

Before she arrived the father of the Thornton-Kimmit brothers and his partner drove past the teenager and stopped to help after seeing him covered in blood and in a state of shock.

The court heard the teenager was then taken home when his mother arrived.

When police arrived at the property he claimed he had been hit with a metal bar.

Mr Palmer said: “The defendant was taken to hospital and things were difficult because the deceaseds’ families were there.”

The teenager tested negative for drugs and alcohol.

A police officer heard the defendant say: “I couldn’t get out of the passenger side so I got out of the driver’s side. I just wanted to get out.”

Flowers at the scene of a fatal car crash that killed 5, Stonegate Road,Leeds.27th November 2017 ..Picture by Simon Hulme

When interviewed he continued to claim that Elliot had driven the car and the passengers in the car had been screaming at him before the collision.

The teenager said Elliot had pushed him out of the car after the crash.

He claimed the witnesses who had seen him driving were wrong.

The court heard the teenager later made full admissions to being the driver to youth offending workers while he was being held in custody.

Police at the scene of a fatal car crash that killed 5, Stonegate Road,Leeds.27th November 2017 ..Picture by Simon Hulme

The slightly-built dark haired teenager appeared in court via a video link alongside his parents and his solicitor, Stephen Smithson.

His barrister, Phillip Morris, said he had decided to tell the truth after getting the chance to speak to his parents.

Mr Morris said: “At 15, sometimes the best counsel and the best giver of advice is one’s mum”

Mr Morris told the court that the defendant had a maturity level of someone much younger than his age and had problems with language and speech.

The judge told the boy as he passed sentence: “You were trapped in the car. Some people came and helped you out and told you to stay but you ran away.

“You then told a lot of lies to people saying that you had not been the driver.

“I accept that you were very frightened by what happened and that you panicked.

“You also told lies to the police.

“However, soon after you had been charged with these serious offences, you decided to own up.

“That was the right thing to do, and a lot of people would not have done that until the prosecution had provided more information.

“But you knew you were guilty and wanted to say so. That is very important.”

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