Ten years for driver who killed two in Doncaster fireball crash

James Maughan, 22, was the driver of a black Renault Megane that crashed into a garden wall in Poppyfields Way, Branton, near Doncaster, last August. The car burst into flames and, despite being seriously burnt, Maughan fled the scene.

Emergency services found two people, Liam Aldred, 26, and Dean McIntyre, 27, dead inside the car. Two other males, aged 16 and 21, were also still inside and suffered burns, but survived.

The court heard Maughan had been driving the Megane along Doncaster Road in convoy with a Volkswagen Passat. The cars were seen speeding and dangerously overtaking a car towing a caravan. The Megane hit a kerb and lost control, colliding with a central reservation and then a garden wall of a house in Poppyfields Way, coming to a rest on its roof and bursting into flames.

Maughan, of Marshland Road, Doncaster, fled to Swansea, South Wales, where he was arrested and charged.

Following a trial at Sheffield Crown Court, a jury found Maughan guilty of two counts of causing death by dangerous driving and causing serious injury by dangerous driving on Monday.

He was also disqualified from driving for 15 years at his sentencing today.

Temporary Inspector Steve Askham, from the Serious Collisions Unit, said afterwards: “I am pleased that the two families in this case, who have suffered tremendous pain and loss, finally have answers about what happened.

“No prison sentence will bring back Liam or Dean, who were greatly loved by those who knew them, but I hope it will give his family and friends some small comfort that Maughan has been held to account for what he did.

“He had absolutely no regard for other drivers, pedestrians or those inside the car with him when he drove so dangerously on the day of the crash.

“He showed further disregard when he left his friends inside the car to burn. He then put the families through a very distressing and traumatising trial, when he could have admitted what happened months ago and spared them the ordeal of having to endure a trial.

“Maughan has never shown any remorse for what he did and, despite threats of extreme violence towards our police officers, we prosecuted him without fear or favour.”