Mum let her drug dealer drive her young family home, it was the biggest mistake of her life
Shayna Bowman wept in the dock as she was sentenced for child neglect
11:43, 25 Sep 2025Updated 11:59, 25 Sep 2025
View 5 ImagesShayna Bowman(Image: Cavendish Press (Manchester) Ltd)A mum's youngest child was left-paralysed and two of her other kids were seriously hurt in a horror crash after she allowed her drugged-up cocaine dealer to drive them home.
Shayna Bowman, 29, from Wythenshawe[1], agreed to let Rhys Farry, 30, give her, her two sons and daughter a lift from a football tournament in his Audi A3, even though she knew he had been drinking and taking cocaine.
And disaster struck when he overtook a line of traffic, jumped a red light and hit another car before ploughing into a tree. Two of her children had to be airlifted to hospital while Bowman herself was seriously hurt in the crash.
Bowman's two-year-old son suffered a severe spinal chord injury which left him paralysed from the waist down. Doctors have since said he will never walk again, a court heard.
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Her daughter, aged five, suffered a broken and dislocated arm and a fractured neck whilst her elder son, aged six, was left with a broken collar bone and multiple internal injuries.
Farry - who had earlier ignored pleas from the youngsters to slow down - tried to flee the wreckage but was caught by other motorists and persuaded to return to the scene.
View 5 ImagesRhys Farry being arrested at the scene(Image: Cavendish Press (Manchester) Ltd)Tests showed he had 357 micrograms of the cocaine breakdown product BZE in his blood - the legal limit being 50mg.
He also had no licence or insurance to drive the car.
None of the kids were in child or booster seats, the court heard, with Bowman prosecuted for child neglect.
However, she avoided going straight to prison, with a judge saying there was 'very little' the court could do which would 'equate to the punishment you have already suffered having seen what your children have experienced and the injuries they have suffered.'
'She was aware of his condition'
The crash happened in Henbury, near Macclesfield[3], on April 20 this year.
Bowman and the three children had decided to go to watch her fourth child play in a football tournament, which the court was told 'should have been a happy family event.'
"Rhys Farry, who she knows very well and who was her supplier of cocaine, had come around in his Audi A3 car and offered her a lift," prosecutor Peter Hussey said.
"She took her other three children with her aged six, five and two to the tournament and later they were travelling back on the A537 near Chelford at 5pm.
View 5 ImagesThe Audi ploughed into a tree in Cheshire(Image: Cavendish Press (Manchester) Ltd)"Already Farry's behaviour was of concern to at least one of the children who asked him to slow down but in the lead up to the collision, the Audi approached a set of temporary traffic lights and overtook a line of traffic.
"He went through a red light whilst a Dacia Sandero car was turning right into a side road.
"As the Dacia was turning, the Audi collided heavily with the rear and offside of that car which was shunted up an embankment.
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"The Audi then came to rest after colliding with a tree.
"All of the occupants were injured to one degree or another and Farry eventually got out and ran off from the scene. Fortunately, a number of motorists stopped, went after Farry and persuaded him to come back to the scene.
View 5 ImagesOccupants of the other car suffered 'minor' injuries(Image: Cavendish Press (Manchester) Ltd)''Police and ambulance were called and two of the children were airlifted by helicopter to Royal Manchester Children's Hospital, the other two injured were taken by ambulance.
"Not one of the children was in a child car seat or a child booster seat which given their ages and nature of the journey that day is clearly quite wrong.
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"It is evident the defendant Bowman was aware of the condition of the driver of the car who had been seen drinking and he is clearly a man who takes cocaine.
''She made admissions in police interview that she saw Farry drinking alcohol and said one of the children was concerned about the speed. This defendant would know what sort of person Farry is.
There is also a suspicion that she herself was intoxicated to some extent."
'It was a massive mistake'
Single mum Bowman, of Broadley Avenue, was herself seriously injured.
She told police afterwards: ''It was a massive mistake and I have to live with it for the rest of my life. My kids mean everything to me.''
The occupants of the Sandero, a 60-year-old woman, a 33-year-old woman and a one-year-old boy, sustained minor injuries in the crash.
View 5 ImagesFarry was jailed for three years(Image: Cavendish Press (Manchester) Ltd)Farry, of Weller Avenue, Chorlton[6], was jailed for three years at an earlier hearing after he admitted causing serious injury by dangerous driving, drug driving and having no licence or insurance.
Bowman admitted three counts of child neglect and was sentenced at Chester Crown Court.
The injured children were recovering and the family house had since been converted to deal with the ongoing mobility issues now faced by the youngest child, Gareth Bellis, who represented Bowman, said.
Mr Bellis added: "There are no concerns about mum's care of the children going forward. She will work alongside social services and has engaged with drugs and alcohol services.
"She is going to provide samples for analysis to show social services she is no longer using cocaine and is going to go for regular testing to show she is no longer using alcohol.
"This defendant did not set out to hurt any of the children.''
Bowman wept in the dock as she was to 20 months in prison, suspended for 20 months, when a judge heard she was deemed fit to carry on looking after her children.
She was also ordered complete 20 days of rehabilitation activity and an alcohol abstinence requirement.
Judge's words
Judge Natalie Cuddy told her: ''You allowed your children to be carried with you in a vehicle being driven by somebody you knew as he provided you with cocaine on a regular basis.
"I am aware from your interview you had seen Mr Farry drinking alcohol and I have read a description of the manner in which he was driving which was considered to be erratic and excessive speed for the road you were driving on.
"It ought to have been obvious to you that you and indeed your children were being exposed to very serious risk.
But that risk was compounded by the fact that you allowed the children to travel with only adult seat belts as restraints rather than the appropriate child seats or booster seats as the law requires.
Article continues below"Those children were very small.
It must have been obvious to you that failing to ensure the children were properly and safely secured in the vehicle would present a risk to them in the event of any collision.
"These children experienced prolonged stays in hospital which I have no doubt will have been an extremely frightening and painful and traumatic experience for them.''