Mitsubishi in smash that killed three was driven at high speed

Officers said the black Mitsubishi Evolution had been driven at “high speed” through Thornton before it careered off the road and ploughed into a hairdresser’s shop.

Now they are appealing for anyone who saw the car prior to the crash late on Monday to help them piece together the last moments of the driver, 27, and his two passengers, aged 19 and 32.

Chief Superintendent Angela Williams, divisional commander for West Yorkshire Police’s Airedale and North Bradford division, said: “Initial inquiries by the detective working on this suggest some high speeds were certainly involved. We are looking at CCTV, we are looking at the site of the impact and we are looking at skid marks on the road.

“All of that will be pieced together over the next few days – including looking at the car that was recovered – and then we will have a much better idea of what sorts of speeds were being travelled at.”

Chief Supt Williams said it was “unclear” yet whether driver error was to blame for the smash but confirmed no other vehicles had been involved.

“We believe it was only this vehicle with these three people in who were involved in the incident,” she said. “Very tragically all three people lost their lives.”

Chief Supt Williams said the three were all friends who knew each other from the local area and the two men were understood to have been socialising together earlier in the evening.

She added: “Under very tragic circumstances it is a good reminder that people should adhere to driving standards.

“We would like to extend our sympathies to the families of those involved and appeal for any witnesses who may have seen the car to come forward.”

The Mitsubishi was travelling along Thornton Road towards the city centre before the crash, which happened at the junction with Kipping Lane just after 11pm.

Passers-by and residents rushed to help the occupants until paramedics and fire crews arrived but they could not be saved.

Watch commander Mike Smith from Fairweather Green station said: “One man was pronounced dead at the scene.

“Members of the public were trying to help the others when we arrived and they had been pulled out of the vehicle. We tried basic life support but the other two died at the scene very soon after.”

Post-mortems were being carried out on the victims yesterday.

Their families had all been informed but police had yet to officially name them last night.

The hairdresser’s shop, Michelle Champion Hair Design, sustained some structural damage but was not occupied at the time. Nobody else was hurt.

The crash happened just yards from the spot where two teenagers died in another horrific collision nearly five years ago.

Isaac Bishop, 15, was killed when he lost control of the stolen Peugeot 206 he was driving while drunk on cider and bourbon in November 2007.

He was pronounced dead at the scene after it spun off the road and smashed into a building on the corner of Kipping Lane before hitting two other cars.

His Thornton Grammar School classmate Chloe Benn, 15, who was in the back, died later in hospital. Front seat passenger Sean Smith, 19, who was “miraculously” unhurt, was jailed for five years after admitting to aggravated vehicle taking and burglary in connection with the crash.

The area has long been notorious as a blackspot for accidents.

A string of serious collisions led to the speed limit on Thornton Road being slashed from 40mph to 30mph and speed cameras being installed in 2002.

Four people were killed and another 29 were injured in accidents on the route in the 12 months before the safety measures were introduced. They were credited with reducing accident rates to only four crashes causing 12 slight injuries over the following year.

Any witnesses or anyone with information about the latest tragedy is asked to contact West Yorkshire Police by calling the non-emergency number 101.