Thief involved in fatal road crash jailed

A thief who stole an off-road vehicle that was involved in what police described as a “horrific” fatal crash has been jailed for four years.

Paul Barnes, 33, from Yarm, and a 17-year-old boy from Stockton-on-Tees who has not been named, stole the Polaris vehicle from a village near Northallerton in July 2021.

They made off along the A19 and hit a van as they crossed a junction near Thimbleby. The teenager was thrown off the vehicle, hit by a car and later died.

At Teesside Crown Court, Barnes was jailed after admitting burglary, taking a vehicle without the owner’s consent and drug possession.