Driver denies racing friends ahead of fatal B4341 crash
Emma Price and Jago Clarke, now both 21, are on trial relating to a crash on the B4341 at Portfield Gate, near Haverfordwest, on the evening of June 13, 2021. Ella Smith, who was a passenger in the Ford Ka driven by Clarke, died in the crash, while Daisy Buck, the passenger in a Seat Ibiza travelling in the opposite direction to the defendants, was seriously injured. Price, who was driving a Citroen C1, denied she was racing Clarke on the way back from Broad Haven beach in the lead up to the crash.
When asked whether they were speeding, she replied: “No, not that I remember.” The court had heard evidence that, based on telematics data from the Ford Ka, it was estimated Clarke was driving at an average of 70mph in the 2.1 miles leading up to the crash. “We were doing a sensible speed.
Less than 60mph around that bend,” she said “And what side were you on?,” asked Dyfed Thomas, defending. “The correct side,” she said.
She said that she saw in the mirror Clarke driving round the corner “in the middle of both lanes”.
Price told the jury that she saw the Seat Ibiza passing her and then heard a “bang”. She said she saw the aftermath of the crash in her mirror, performed an emergency stop, and beeped the horn to signal to her friend in front to come back. Price denied “overtaking” Clarke as they rounded the bend.
Jon Tarrant, representing Clarke, asked Price about Luis Heathfield’s evidence that she had been driving in the middle of the road. “No, we were never in the middle of the road,” she said. “The Ford Ka was at one stage close enough that it appears it was going to overtake you?,” Mr Tarrant asked.
“I can’t remember,” she said. When asked by Mr Tarrant about whether she was speeding, she replied: “I can’t be sure, but I know I was careful driving.” She said that she did try to overtake the Fiat Punto on the straight section of the road before the corners.
“Did you have any particular need to overtake,” Mr Tarrant asked. “Not necessarily,” she said. Mr Tarrant asked if Price could explain why the driver of the Seat Ibiza gave evidence that she was “side by side” with the Ford Ka around the corner moments before the crash.
“I have no idea,” she said. She also denied that she sped up and moved in front of the Ford Ka when asked by Mr Tarrant. She was asked about the driver and passenger of the Seat describing the cars as going at “extreme speed”.
“Not extremely fast, no,” she said. “I don’t know what speed we were doing but it wasn’t fast as we were going in to a 30.” “You chose to make a decision to try to overtake [Clarke] back at speed on a blind bend,” Mr Tarrant put to Price.
“I didn’t have to make that decision. I was always in front of them. They were always behind me,” she said.
Price said that she had gone to the beach with her boyfriend, another friend and Clarke earlier in the afternoon. The group had bought a crate of Kopparberg from Morrisons in Haverfordwest. “Everyone else was drinking,” she said, adding she also had “a sip”.
She said she did not drink any alcohol when at the beach for the second time later that day, and said that although she did not see anyone drinking, there was alcohol being consumed. Price told the court that Clarke told her he had passed his driving test and had held a full licence for “a few years”. She admitted that she hadn’t read the terms of her insurance which stipulated that – as a learner driver – she must be supervised by someone at least 25 years old who had held a licence for three years.
Prosecutor Jim Davis asked Price if she saw Clarke drinking a bottle of Budweiser. “I know he had one,” she replied. “Why did you think Luis [Heathfield] was telling him not to drive?,” Mr Davis asked.
“Because you could see he had been drinking,” Price said. The jury was told that a blood sample was taken from Clarke to test for any alcohol in his system, but due to a failure of the recording procedures in the laboratory, the results of the test were removed. The court heard that Miss Smith died at the scene as a result of suffering multiple injuries, including extensive skull fractures.
Miss Buck was taken to the A&E department at Withybush Hospital, before being transferred to University Hospital of Wales in Cardiff. She sustained abdominal injuries which required surgery and an open fracture to her right ankle. She was later transferred to Morriston Hospital.
Clarke sustained a traumatic brain injury, and injuries to his chest and ribs. Clarke, of Sunningdale Drive in Hubberston, Milford Haven, pleaded guilty to a lesser charge of causing death by careless driving and also to causing death by driving a vehicle whilst unlicensed and uninsured. The jury will have to determine whether they accept Clarke’s plea to the alternative charge.
Price, of Holloway in Haverfordwest, denied all charges.
The trial continues.