Drivers jailed over fatal high speed race

Two drivers who caused a fatal crash after racing their high performance cars through residential streets at more than 100mph were today starting jail terms totalling more than 16 years.

Passengers Danny Eales, aged 24, and Tim Morris, 22, died after the Honda Civic they were travelling in was crashed by their close friend Michael Allen.

Wolverhampton Crown Court heard that Allen, 22, had been hurtling through Dudley at speeds of up to 120mph.

When he pulled up at traffic lights alongside a Mazda RX7 he offered to race driver, father-of-four Simon Skidmore, the court heard.

The pair, who had never met before, then drove through streets for one and a half miles before Allen lost control and smashed into a wall in Tipton Road, Sedgley.

The Civic, which had been modified to go from 0-60mph in 6.4 seconds, "catapulted" across the road before hitting traffic lights, the court was told.

Front seat passenger Mr Eales and Mr Morris, who sat in the back with his partner Jade Williams, were thrown from the vehicle as it cannoned off the wall at about 10.15pm on April 8 last year.

Mr Eales, who worked for Cannock-based firm ID Maintenance, was pronounced dead a short time later at Russells Hall Hospital. Mr Morris, a mechanic at Northway Auto Services, Musk Lane, Lower Gornal, died five days after the crash.

The court was told Mr Eales, of Woodside, Dudley, had been "screaming" at Allen, of Summer Lane, Lower Gornal, to slow down.

Allen was jailed for nine and half years and banned from driving for 12 years, while Skidmore, 25, of Westcroft Avenue, Wolverhampton, got seven years in prison and a 10-year disqualification. Both had pleaded guilty to two charges each of causing death by dangerous driving, after originally denying the charges at earlier hearings.