Driver in fire-spitting turbocharged car killed teenagers while ‘showing off’

Dhiya Al Maamoury
Al Maamoury was driving his modified blue and white Nissan with his sons in the back when he lost control at 11.30pm on Nov 20 2022 - West Midlands Police

A dangerous driver killed two teenagers while “showing off” in his fire-spitting turbocharged sports car, a court has heard.

Dhiya Al Maamoury, 56, lost control of his Nissan Skyline and ploughed into a group of pedestrians at a car meet in Oldbury, near Birmingham, in November 2022.

The collision killed Liberty Charris, 16 and Ben Corfield, 19, and seriously injured Ethan Kilburn, then 21, and Ebonie Parkies, who was 20.

Iraq-born Al Maamoury was sentenced to 13 years and six months in prison at Wolverhampton Crown Court on Friday after pleading guilty to two counts of causing death by dangerous driving and two counts of causing serious injury by dangerous driving.

Al Maamoury, who lives in Solihull, was driving his modified blue and white Nissan with his sons in the back when he lost control at 11.30pm on Nov 20 2022.

Michelle Heeley KC, prosecuting, told the jury that the car had been imported from Japan the previous year and was modified with a fire-spitting exhaust and turbocharged engine.

She said Al Maamoury was “fishtailing” – a form of drifting – at speeds of between 54 mph and 57 mph in a 40 mph zone when he ploughed into the onlooking crowd.

“What caused this was the defendant accelerating excessively,” Ms Heeley said.

“The back end of his car lost traction with the road and he then began to head towards the central reservation. He tried to over-correct and lost control completely.

“He wasn’t under the influence of alcohol or drugs. What he was doing was cruising and showing off, driving dangerously in an area full of pedestrians.”

Liberty Charris and Ben Corfield
Liberty Charris was described in court by her mother as ‘larger than life’; Ben Corfield’s father said the son he ‘loved so dearly is gone’ - West Midlands Police

Police officers and paramedics arrived at the scene but were unable to save the lives of Ms Charris and Mr Corfield.

Listening through an Arabic interpreter, Al Maamoury looked into the distance as Damian Corfield, Ben’s father, told the court the “reason I lived” had been “taken away from me”.

“The son I cherished and loved so dearly is gone,” he said. “My son, my best mate, my business partner and confidant. All I do is count down the days until I can be with him again.”

Speaking after the sentencing, he said car meets were a “scourge of the Earth”.

“They are a danger to all road users and they seem to have progressed over the last 12 or 18 months,” he said.

Tracy Charris, Liberty’s mother, cried as she paid tribute to her “larger than life” daughter.

“I am so full of hate it consumes me,” she said. “I am truly devastated by the loss of my Liberty and it is too much to bear.”

Al Maamoury was arrested at the scene but told police that he had not been speeding and the car left the road “by itself” when he was on his way home.

When he was interviewed after his arrest, he also denied that he had been “showing off” but this was disproved by footage from social media and CCTV cameras.

Al Maamoury initially pleaded not guilty in March but changed his plea on the day he was due to face trial in September.

‘Highly dangerous manoeuvre’

Balbir Singh, defending, said the consequences of the collision were “not intended, not envisaged and not foreseen” and that Al Maamoury was “full of regret and remorse”.

Judge Michael Chambers KC handed down two 13-and-a-half year sentences for the counts of causing death by dangerous driving, and two 32-month sentences for the counts of causing serious injury by dangerous driving.

“You deliberately carried out a highly dangerous manoeuvre in order to show off to the crowd by accelerating hard in a Nissan that you had deliberately modified in order to increase its power,” he said.

“You did so in clear close proximity to a crowd of spectators who had lined the road and included the four victims in this case.

“As a result you lost control of your car with catastrophic results. To bury a child is a parent’s worst nightmare.”

The sentences will run concurrently and Al Maamoury is likely to serve two-thirds of them. He was also banned from driving for 14 years.