Royal Navy nuclear submarine officer who killed two young women with car is jailed for 10 years
A Royal Navy officer on a nuclear submarine killed two young women when he smashed head-on into their car in a high-speed road crash.
Benjamin Lewis, 31, had been driving his BMW 420M Sport at up to 93mph minutes before he performed a ‘dangerous’ and illegal overtaking manoeuvre and smashed into Ellie Crossley’s Citroen DS3 coming the other way.
Miss Crossley and her front seat passenger, Rebecca Doughty, both 20, were killed instantly.
Chester Crown Court heard the best friends had been returning home from a Christmas[3] shopping trip to the Cheshire Oaks retail outlet, in Ellesmere Port, Cheshire, when the accident happened at about 9.30pm on a dark and rainy night, in November 2021.
Today Lewis, a tactical systems operative on the nuclear submarine HMS Vengeance, was jailed for 10 years after pleading guilty to two counts of causing death by dangerous driving.
Benjamin Lewis, 31, (pictured) killed two young women when he smashed head-on into their car in a high-speed road crash
The Royal Navy officer has now been jailed for 10 years after killing Ellie Crossley (left) and Rebecca Doughty (right)
The court heard he was considered a ‘dependable crew member’ by his commanding officer and was in line for promotion at the time of the crash. His work helped maintain the sub’s ‘tactical fitness’ at sea and was ‘important’ for ‘the country’s nuclear deterrent,’ his barrister, Caroline Harrison, said.
Judge Simon Berkson told the submariner, who faced a maximum of 14 years in jail, that he had taken his ‘service to his country’ into consideration when deciding on his sentence.
But the judge said: ‘You were driving so fast that you lost control. The sole cause of this tragic accident was your dangerous driving.
‘There was no reason to be driving so fast. It was an unnecessary overtaking manoeuvre. You caused the deaths of two young women with their adult lives ahead of them. You made a deliberate decision to overtake and two young innocent lives were needlessly taken.’
The court heard experts estimated Lewis had been speeding at between 62 and 78 mph at the time of the impact on the 60mph-limit A5117 at Dunkirk, near Ellesmere Port, on November 25, 2021. They also used data captured from global satellites to show that Lewis had been speeding on several roads for several minutes before the accident.
Prosecutor Mark Connor said: ‘This case concerns the tragic and needless loss of two young lives; Ellie Crossley and Rebecca Doughty or Becca as she was known, both were 20 years old and at the threshold of adult life when they were killed.’
The barrister said Ms Crossley had only recently passed her driving test and was on her first significant outing in her car, but stressed there was no suggestion her driving had contributed to the accident.
Friends described her as a ‘really bubbly character’ and ‘the life of the party’ but also a ‘very sensible’ girl, who knew how important it was to concentrate on her driving, Mr Connor added.
‘I make it clear the fact she was a newly qualified driver had nothing to do with the collision and no blame at all is attached to her,’ he added. ‘The fault is entirely the defendant’s.’
The 31-year-old was considered a ‘dependable crew member’ by his commanding officer and was in line for promotion at the time of the crash
Ellie Crossley (pictured) and Rebecca Doughty, both 20, were travelling back home to Flintshire, North Wales, after buying Christmas gifts
Mr Connor said the two friends, who both lived in Connah’s Quay, north Wales, were travelling in convoy, behind two others – Amy Phillips and Rhian Jones – who were in front in Miss Phillips’ black Corsa.
He said Lewis was travelling at ‘significantly excessive speed’ on the single carriageway road, which had double ‘no overtaking’ white lines, when he tried to pass two cars in front of him and lost control of his BMW. The road surface was wet at the time, with puddles forming.
Mr Connor said: ‘Amy estimated that they were travelling around 30mph when she became aware of three cars travelling towards them.
‘She believed that the third car, the defendant’s blue BMW, was attempting to overtake the middle car if not both cars. She described this car straddling the middle of the road and swerving from side to side.
‘In her assessment the driver had lost control of his vehicle, it came past her driver’s window in very close proximity before moving back into its correct lane and then back into the opposite lane.
‘She thought the defendant’s car was going to collide with her, so she moved to her right to avoid an impact. She then witnessed through her rear mirror the BMW career into Ellie’s vehicle causing both cars to spin.’
After the crash, Lewis, of Neston, Wirral, told police: ‘I went to overtake. Visibility was poor. As I moved over, I saw there was a car coming. I realised I had gone over the line, and I didn’t see them. As I tried to move back over I lost control and fishtailed and hit the car in front of me.’
He told officers in interview that his general style of driving was ‘to make progress’ and admitted he didn’t like to sit in traffic or get stuck behind a truck.
Emotional victim impact statements were read to the court from Miss Crossley and Miss Doughty’s family and friends.
Miss Crossley’s father, Steven, said ‘every moment or every day’ was a ‘struggle’ since his daughter’s death.
The accident happened at about 9.30pm on a dark and rainy night in November 2021. Pictured: Rebecca Doughty
‘From the moment I wake up in the mornings I have an overwhelming feeling of complete dread at the thought of struggling another day without Ellie,’ he said. ‘I am so angry at the world.
‘I will no longer get to walk my beautiful daughter down the aisle, help her buy her first home and look after her children, my grandchildren.’
Her mother, Amanda, added: ‘There are no words that can ever comprehend the true feeling of losing my daughter and my best friend. From the moment that Ellie died, a part of me died too. I am no longer the person I used to be, I can only explain my life as an existence, trying to get to the end of the day, wishing it would come sooner, so that I can sleep and not feel the pain that I am left to live with for the rest of my life.’
Miss Doughty’s father, Paul, said ‘the brightest light’ in their home had gone ‘out forever.’
Lewis, whose barrister told the court he was genuinely remorseful, will serve two thirds of his sentence before being eligible for parole. He will also be banned from driving for four years on his release.
Sergeant Andy Dennison, of Cheshire Police’s Serious and Complex Collision Investigation Unit, said: ‘Despite the poor weather conditions and low visibility, Lewis proceeded to speed in excess of 90mph with no regard to the danger he posed to other road users or himself.
‘During the investigation, we utilised data collected by global satellites connected to electronic devices to show that Lewis had driven at high speed on several roads just before the collision. It was also shown that Lewis accelerated harshly before losing control of his BMW on the wrong side of a double white line system.
‘Tragically, as a result of his atrocious driving, Ellie and Rebecca paid the ultimate price. I hope he takes this time behind bars to reflect on the decisions he made that night and the impact this has had on their families.’