'Show-off' dad jailed for causing death of nephew after high-speed crash in 30mph zone

An “erratic and dangerous” driver who killed his teenage nephew in a horror car crash has been jailed.

Lejan Lancaster-Baxter, 35, was “showing off” when his Volkswagen Golf GTI sped through a 30mph zone before ploughing into two cars, prosecutors said.

Bradford Crown Court heard how Lancaster-Baxter had lost control, hitting one car and then smashing into another, causing his car to fly into the air and do a full barrel roll.

His nephew Brad Aldridge, 19, suffered multiple injuries and he was pronounced dead at the scene.

Brad Aldridge’s cousin, Declan Aldridge, suffered fractures to his femur and wrist and needed to have surgery on his leg.

Lancaster-Baxter has been jailed for two years after admitting causing Brad Aldridge’s death and causing serious injury to Declan Aldridge by dangerous driving.

Prosecutor Jonathan Sharp said witnesses described Lancaster-Baxter’s driving behind the wheel of the powerful Golf GTI as “erratic and dangerous” and “aggressive”.

He told the court that on 3 February, 2019, Lancaster-Baxter had been “showing off” to his passengers while driving his car.

At one point, Declan Aldridge had taken a video of the defendant driving above the speed limit and Brad Aldridge had commented: “This is a mental car”.

The court heard how no one in the car had been wearing a seatbelt.

One woman said she estimated the car was going at around 80mph on the 30mph road and was so angered by what she saw that she tried to report it to police.

Sharp said that Lancaster-Baxter was driving the Golf in the direction of Bradford when the first crash with a Hyundai car happened as he tried to overtake it.

The Golf then smashed into a Nissan Juke, with the force of the impact causing the hatchback to fly into the air and do a full barrel roll.

Lancaster-Baxter was thrown from the vehicle before it landed upside down on the road, bounced and slid about 20 metres, narrowly missing a pedestrian.

In a statement read to the court, the driver of the Nissan, David Barlow, whose four-year-old son was sitting alongside him and was left covered in glass, said: “I can’t stop thinking about how close my son came to being killed.”

The court heard how Lancaster-Baxter sought to “minimise” his blame and that unusually, Brad Aldridge’s family was not in favour of the prosecution.

Connor Quinn, for Lancaster-Baxter, spoke of the devastating impact of the crash, saying he had “suffered enough”, adding: “He will never trouble these courts again.”

Lancaster-Baxter was sentenced to a total of 32 months’ imprisonment and disqualified from driving for more than nine years.

Speaking after, detective sergeant Paul Lightowler of the Major Collision Enquiry Team said: “This case stands as a tragic example of the dreadful consequences that driving dangerously can have.”'

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