Delivery driver who inhaled laughing gas moments before van crash which killed 15-year-old girl in Lancashire jailed
Watch more of our videos on Shots!and live on Freeview channel 276
The 24-year-old had also been sending messages on his mobile phone seconds before his van ploughed through a metal barrier and plunged down a steep ravine, the court heard.
Bonny Rae Barrow suffered catastrophic injuries and sadly died in hospital the following day (Credit: Lancashire Police)
But her distraught family, including mum Sarah Barrow, stormed out of court amid shouts of “it’s a joke” and “it’s definitely not over” when Judge Heather Lloyd passed sentence. Hughes, 24, who was a close friend of Bonny’s family, was also disqualified from driving for eight years and nine months. He will need to take a new test before he is allowed back behind the wheel.
Judge Lloyd told him he would have to face the effects of what he had done for the rest of his life, but added: “At least you have the rest of your life.”
Footage captured Hughes inhaling laughing gas moment before the fatal crash (Credit: Lancashire Police)
The court heard Hughes, who was so close to Bonny that he referred to her as his cousin, was driving erratically along the Accrington Bypass at Huncoat in July when he veered off down a slip-road at high speed. Dashcam footage in the van captured the incident and showed Hughes inhaling laughing gas (nitrous oxide) several times from a yellow balloon as he drove along the bypass. He was also using his mobile phone and at times he was seen with no hands on the steering wheel.
As the vehicle travelled down the northbound slip-road approaching the A679 Burnley Road, it was travelling at between 62 and 68 mph – far too fast to safely negotiate a tight left-hand bend and stop just before a roundabout at the bottom.
Hughes lost control of the vehicle and ploughed through a metal barrier after attempting to navigate a tight bend at high speeds (Credit: Lancashire Police)
Neither the driver nor Bonny were wearing a seatbelt, something experts felt might have saved Bonny’s life. At the scene a witness said she saw a young man in shock, saying the young girl was his cousin and saying repeatedly “I lost control, I lost control.” Bonny, who had just completed her mock GCSE exams, was taken to the Royal Manchester Children’s Hospital, but was later transferred to a specialist unit at Wythenshawe.
Overnight her condition worsened and she passed away late the following day with her family present.
Hughes was jailed for seven-and-a-half years (Credit: Lancashire Police)
Prosecuting barrister Peter Barr said Hughes accepted he had been inhaling laughing gas from a balloon while driving. Mr Barr said nitrous oxide had become a popular recreational drug in recent years, but it causes euphoria and can cause unconsciousness if inhaled to excess.