The death racers who turned West Midland roads into a bloodbath to boost their ego

Car crashes are an everyday occurance on UK roads, with the majority of drivers doing all they can to avoid one. But a select few put showing off above the safety of others with devestating consequences. A number of those drivers are under the influence when behind the wheel before causing collisions which left others for dead.

This includes one man who drove down the wrong side of the M42 before killing his passenger. Another decided to go through a red light before colliding with a vehicle which had been stolen days before. Elsewhere, two teenagers were killed at a car meet when a man lost control of his Nissan and ploughed into a crowd.

Get breaking news on BirminghamLive WhatsApp[1] Below are a number of cases of death by dangerous driving on roads across the West Midlands. Scroll down to

Thomas O'Brien-Wood

An intoxicated driver travelling on the wrong side of the M42 killed his passenger in a horror crash.

Thomas O'Brien-Wood was jailed for more than seven years following the incident. O'Brien-Wood, from The Beck in Dudley[2], was behind the wheel of a Ford Fiesta which had failed to stop for West Midlands Police[3] officers on the A446 before joining the M42. Due to the manner of driving, the initial pursuit was abandoned and the vehicle was lost.

A short time later, police received a 999 call stating that the Ford Fiesta had been involved in a collision as it entered the wrong slip road on the M42 Junction 9 driving towards oncoming traffic. The vehicle had collided with an oncoming vehicle, killing the front seat passenger Harry Smart, 20, on October 4, 2022. Officers arrived, and Thomas was intoxicated testing positive for alcohol and cocaine.

O'Brien-Wood later admitted causing death by dangerous driving. After appearing at Warwick Crown Court today on February 2 last year, he was jailed for seven-and-a-half years. He was also disqualified from driving for eight years and nine months.

Click here[4] to

Arjun Dosanjh and Jacek Wiatrowski

A pair of killer drivers mowed down an 81-year-old woman. Surinder Kaur was deeply religious and was on her way home from the Gurdwara when she was hit on Oldbury Road in Rowley Regis. Jacek Wiatrowski, 51, was driving a black BMW and began 'driving competitively' against 26-year-old Arjun Dosanjh after the pair of strangers pulled up next to one another at traffic lights.

Both vehicles were travelling at high speeds, significantly exceeding the speed limit on November 13, 2022. CCTV footage showed Wiatrowski heavily braking as he spotted Mrs Kaur crossing the road. He narrowly missed her but caused Dosanjh to swerve on the wrong side of the road, avoiding the BMW but hitting Mrs Kaur.

Both defendants pleaded guilty to causing death by dangerous driving at an earlier hearing. At Wolverhampton Crown Court on January 8 last year, Wiatrowski of Pine Avenue, Wednesbury, and Dosanjih of MacDonald Close, Oldbury, were each jailed for six years and banned from driving for eight years. Click here[5] to

Connor Jones

A new driver who inhaled laughing gas and smoked cannabis before killing his friend in a horror crash.

Connor Jones was behind the wheel of a Ford Focus when he lost control and hurtled into an oncoming car. Jones - who had only held a licence for four months - was speeding at almost twice the limit just moments before the impact. Both vehicles were flung into the air before plummeting to the ground.

Jones and his three passengers were not wearing seatbelts during the head-on collision. Witnesses shocked by the noise of the smash rushed outside, finding a 'catastrophic' crash scene and canisters of nitrous oxide rolling down the street. Friend Kane Foster, 18, suffered a fatal head injury and chest fractures, with his life support machine switched off the day after the crash.

Jones' late-night smash was the culmination of 21 miles of dangerous driving. Jones admitted causing death by dangerous driving and two counts of causing serious injury by dangerous driving. He was jailed for 12 years and must serve at least two-thirds of his sentence before he can be considered for release by the Parole Board.

The defendant - of Kennedy Crescent, Lower Gornal - was also handed a 13-year driving ban. Click here[6] to

Shazad Alam

Shazad Alam fatally struck a 12-year-old schoolboy as he cycled across one of Birmingham's main roads. Alam was driving between 53 and 62 mph in his BMW M3 along Coventry Road, Yardley[7], when he hit Azaan Khan, who died at the scene.

Alam was arrested at the scene for causing death by dangerous driving. A painstaking investigation followed with the force's Serious Collision Investigation Unit (SCIU) reviewing CCTV which established the lethal speed he was driving at when he killed the boy on Saturday 8 June, 2023. The Jaguar Land Rover[8] worker had been weaving in and out of traffic and using the bus lane to undertake other drivers who heard the 'aggressive roaring' of his engine as he sped past.

Alam, of Lowesmoor Road, Sheldon, pleaded guilty at Birmingham[9] Crown Court was jailed for eight years and nine months in November last year. Click here[10] to

Dhiya Al Maamoury

A dangerous driver who killed two teenagers and seriously injured two more changed his plea to 'guilty' just before facing his trial. Dhiya Al Maamoury ploughed into Liberty Charris, 16, and 19-year-old Ben Corfield, both from Dudley, beside the A457 Oldbury Road near the junction with Crystal Drive in Oldbury on Sunday, November 20, 2022.

Al Maamoury was driving a blue Nissan Skyline at around 11.30pm, when he lost control and hit a number of pedestrians on the pavement. Liberty and Ben both died at the scene. While a man and woman in their 20s were also badly injured in the incident.

He was jailed for 13 years and six months. Click here[11] to

Nirvair Lall

A convicted robber who killed his 'best friend' at a 'notorious' accident hotspot after a night out at a Birmingham pub has been locked up over the horror Christmas[12] Day smash. Drink driver Nirvair Lall was speeding in the moments before he lost control of his Ford Fiesta and hurtled into a tree.

Lall managed to scramble out of the car after it dramatically flipped onto its side. But his passenger - and robbery accomplice - Inderjot Singh suffered fatal injuries and could not be saved. Police managed to work out he had been flouting the speed limit in the lead-up to the crash after checking data from an electronic tag fitted on him when he was freed from jail.

The collision came just three years after Lall and Singh took part in a terrifying robbery, which saw a fellow gang member killed as he fled the scene on a stolen motorbike. Click here[13] to

Andrew Phillips and Vijay Kumar

Two speeding drivers have been locked up following the death of an 89-year-old woman. Andrew Phillips and Vijay Kumar were travelling in separate vehicles when they both burst through red lights at Snow Hill, just off the city centre ring road in Wolverhampton.

The woman was crossing at the traffic lights in front of them and Kumar's Mercedes swerved to avoid her. However, Phillips who was travelling closely behind in an Audi RS Q3 ploughed into the woman leaving her with serious injuries. Kumar drove off following the collision at around 3.20pm on January 14 last year but Phillips remained at the scene.

The woman was taken to hospital but sadly died five days later. Phillips and Kumar - who are not believed to have known each other - had been travelling in excess of the speed limit just before going through the red lights. Snow Hill has a speed limit of 20mph but Phillips is calculated to have been driving at over 60mph and Kumar at least 43mph.

Although Kumar drove off, police managed to identify the uninsured vehicle. Phillips, 30, of Cedar Grove, Wolverhampton, pleaded guilty to causing death by dangerous driving and was jailed for six years eight months at the city's Crown Court on Friday, August 2. He was also banned from driving for over eight years.

Kumar, 23, of Brough Close, Wolverhampton, admitted dangerous driving and was jailed for a year. He was also disqualified from driving for two years and six months. Click here[14] to

Ethan Holness and Frederick Rogers

The reckless actions of Ethan Holness and Frederick Rogers led to the death of James Sheridan who was a backseat passenger in a blue Ford Fiesta driven by Holness.

The Fiesta was stolen from the Telford area two days before the fatal crash and was on cloned plates. While the car it collided with, a grey VW Golf, driven by Frederick Rogers, who was found to be drunk-driving and went through red lights. Holness was 17 when the crash occurred and was travelling at speeds of up to 72mph in a 30mph zone, with his brother and Sheridan on board, as it approached the lights at the junction with Lichfield[15] Road and Wolverhampton Road going through on amber.

At the same time Rogers jumped a red light travelling at 60mph travelling in the opposite direction. The impact caused the Ford Fiesta driven by Holness to flip on its side as it careered on to the wrong side of the carriageway. It finally came to a stop after hurtling into 'street furniture', 'demolishing' a brick wall outside a home in Wolverhampton Road.

Rogers then failed a roadside breath test, with a later blood test showing he had 111 milligrams of alcohol in 100 millilitres of blood - the legal limit is 80. None of those involved were wearing seatbelts. James Sheridan could not be saved by paramedics and died from his injuries at the scene.

He had been due to celebrate his 21 st birthday in a few weeks.

Click here[16] to

References

1. ^ BirminghamLive WhatsApp (chat.whatsapp.com)
2. ^ Dudley (www.birminghammail.co.uk)
3. ^ West Midlands Police (www.birminghammail.co.uk)
4. ^ here (www.birminghammail.co.uk)
5. ^ here (www.birminghammail.co.uk)
6. ^ here (www.birminghammail.co.uk)
7. ^ Yardley (www.birminghammail.co.uk)
8. ^ Jaguar Land Rover (www.birminghammail.co.uk)
9. ^ Birmingham (www.birminghammail.co.uk)
10. ^ here (www.birminghammail.co.uk)
11. ^ here (www.birminghammail.co.uk)
12. ^ Christmas (www.birminghammail.co.uk)
13. ^ here (www.birminghammail.co.uk)
14. ^ here (www.birminghammail.co.uk)
15. ^ Lichfield (www.birminghammail.co.uk)
16. ^ here (www.birminghammail.co.uk)