Driver who killed four-month-old baby in Walsall crash jailed for three years

Reuben Johnson had reached speeds twice the 30mph limit when he careered head on into the Ford Focus in which Malia Porter was travelling with her family.

Tragedy struck after the tired little girl was taken from her child seat in the rear of the car to be comforted on the lap of her mother, Jerene Meyler, who was in the front passenger seat, a judge heard.

Both were secured by the same safety belt which cut into Malia with such force at impact that it caused fatal internal injuries, Wolverhampton Crown Court was told.

Her father Andre Porter had no opportunity to take evasive action when 30-year-old Johnson - travelling at up to 66mph in the opposite direction - suddenly veered onto the wrong carriageway into the path of the Ford Focus on Birmingham Road, Walsall, near its junction with Charlemont Road, said Mr Tariq Shakoor, prosecuting.

The defendant had been tailed by a Vauxhall Zafira which CCTV film showed being driven erratically without lights and overtaking vehicles at speed until both it and the BMW stopped at traffic lights around 250 metres from the crash scene.

Johnson accelerated away at considerable speed with the Vauxhall still behind him when the lights changed.

Security camera footage proved he was doing between 60 and 66mph moments before the crash on August 19 2016.

Mr Porter, his partner, their three-year-old daughter Tiana and the defendant were all badly hurt but the driver of the Vauxhall, which did not stop at the scene, has not been identified.

Johnson told one witness 'a car with no lights was trying to get around him,' added Mr Shakoor.

Mr Gurdeep Garcha, defending, said: "A few moments of madness has taken a life and profoundly altered those of many others. He hates himself for what he has done.

"He became inattentive after being distracted by the presence of the Vauxhall which was being driven in a very volatile manner.

"There was then a short burst of bad driving but there is no evidence that the defendant was racing or driving competitively with the Vauxhall.

"He is the sort who would have been intimidated by it."

Johnson, a barber of previous good character from Hewitt Street, Darlaston, admitted causing the death of Malia by dangerous driving and was sent to prison for three years and two months by Judge John Wait.

The judge told him: "Whether you were distracted by what was happening behind you or not we know not but you are responsible for the death of Malia."

The child's mother, who now lives in America, said in a statement: "This ended life as my family knew it. I was just so happy to have her and in the blink of an eye she was gone.

"Now I am so lost I barely exist although I try to carry on for my other daughter who still has nightmares of the crash."