Road race drivers jailed over fatal collision

Adam Cox, 23, and Simon Chevens, 42, who had passed his driving test only 10 days earlier, wove in and out of traffic and drove bumper to bumper for nearly a mile uphill on a busy dual carriageway.

Pedestrians jumped back in fear and other motorists winced before mother-of-two teaching assistant June Bryce-Stephen, 56, was killed when her Nissan Micra was struck by Cox’s silver Honda Civic R as she attempted to turn onto the road.

Sheffield Crown Court heard Cox went round a corner too fast and his car slammed into her driver’s side and she died at the scene from multiple injuries. Chevens managed to brake and take evasive action before fleeing the accident scene. Both drivers were convicted of causing death by dangerous driving.

Cox, who admitted the offence at an earlier hearing, was jailed for five years and Chevens, who was found guilty after a five-day trial, was sentenced to seven years.

Judge Michael Murphy told them: “It was a flagrant disregard for the rules of the road and an apparent disregard of the great danger being caused to others.”

He went on: “Whether you were trying to establish which of the motor cars was the more powerful or whether you had been aggravated by the other man’s car doesn’t matter to me or the unfortunate lady concerned.”

He said the race had claimed the life of an “innocent and unfortunate lady”.

Prosecutor Andrew Hatton said it was “prolonged, deliberate, it was racing and it was aggressive.” He told the court that seconds before the collision at 7.40pm on March 6 last year Cox was seen racing Chevens’ orange Ford Focus ST on the A61 road at Wadsley Bridge, Sheffield.

Pizza delivery worker Adrian Nicklin was shocked to be overtaken on the inside by the Focus travelling very fast.

He said: “It looked like they were having a race up the hill. The orange car was swerving in and out of the lanes.”

He rounded a corner to come across the crash. He said: “I got to the top of the hill and there was smoke everywhere from the collision.”

Witness Karen Ellis saw both cars speed past as she waited to cross the 40mph limit road. She said: “They were going extremely fast. Really fast.”