Broadway West death crash accused ‘warned not to drive’
A motorist was warned not to drive before a crash on a Black Country road that cost the lives of two teenagers, a jury heard.
Stephen Lloyd, who had been drinking during the day and evening, offered to drive friends to their homes in West Bromwich from his address at Broadway West, Walsall, late on March 13 last year, Wolverhampton Crown Court was told.
His partner Carla Furkins said while giving evidence: “I told him: ‘Stephen, you can’t drive, you have been drinking.’ He said he was OK.”
The court heard how the 60-year-old defendant was turning into the driveway on his return home when the red Rover 25 collided with a motorcycle.
More coverage:
It was being driven by 19-year-old Alexander Lees with his friend Tarik Campbell, aged 18, riding pillion. Both were killed in the collision.
Ms Furkins, whose daughter 23-year-old daughter Tuli was in the front passenger seat of the car when tragedy struck, said: “I was tidying up when I heard a knock on the door and found it was my daughter. I could see something had happened. She was crying.
“I said to Stephen ‘What happened?’ He didn’t say anything.
“He was in shock. I told him to go inside and have a drink – non alcoholic.”
Tuli recalled: “When Steve started to make the turn I remember looking left and then there was a bang on my side of the car.
“That is all I remember of the crash. Stephen got out first, then I climbed out of the same door because I could not open mine.”
She wept as she added: “I looked on the road and saw the boys.”
She continued: “I did not know how much Stephen had had to drink but he didn’t look drunk.
“I had no concerns about his driving while going to and from West Bromwich and when he indicated to turn right into the driveway the road was clear. I couldn’t see anything coming.”
The motorbike had been travelling at up to 81mph in a 30 limit before the smash but that did not free the defendant of his responsibility to drive with care and attention, which he failed to do, claimed the prosecution.
Lloyd, who blew 82 microgrammes of alcohol in 100 millilitres of breath, admitted drinking before the accident and claimed to have downed more alcohol in his home immediately after the impact but gave three conflicting accounts of the amount involved.
Lloyd denies causing the death of the two teenagers by driving carelessly while over the drink-drive limit.
The case continues.
