Reckless and dangerous driving can have catastrophic consequences. Every year innocent lives are lost on our roads and families shattered by the death of loved ones.
The courts in Devon are all too familiar with criminal cases involving crazy driving. The most serious involve motorists who cause death by dangerous manoeuvres, often while over the drink or drug limit. Grieving families are left asking why they did not stop to think before getting behind the wheel.
Here is a round-up of drivers convicted of dangerous or careless driving that led to death or serious injury on the roads of Devon in 2024.
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Anne-Marie Kennedy has been jailed for causing a fatal road collision in Torquay
(Image: Devon & Cornwall Police)
Hit-and-run driver Anne-Marie Kennedy killed a pedestrian on his way home from a night out in Torquay. She was driving a VW Golf on Barton Hill Road that hit Nathan Lee causing catastrophic and fatal injuries.
Kennedy was speeding at the time and not wearing glasses, despite warnings in the past that she should do so. There was cocaine in her system and she had never even passed a driving test.
After colliding with Mr Lee she drove away, returning on foot to see emergency services at the roadside trying to save the dying man’s life. She gave herself in the following day.
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Harry Lock
Harry Lock killed a cyclist in Exeter after missing a red light as he inhaled laughing gas behind the wheel of his BMW. The car hit and fatally injured mother-of-three Maria Perez-Gonzalez while she was crossing the road in Western Way.
Lock, aged 24, admitted causing death by dangerous driving. He was sentenced to three years and four months in prison and banned from driving.
Lock left was heading home from a pub in Exeter to Plymouth at the time of the collision. He briefly stopped his BMW 4 Series to retrieve cannisters of nitrous oxide from the boot.
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Simon Mumford
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A bus driver was jailed for killing a pedestrian at a road crossing. Simon Mumford, 54, was driving a single decker City Bus when he crashed into Amallia Elmasry on Sunday, January 7.
The court heard how he had made various stops before heading towards a traffic light controlled pedestrian crossing near Sainsbury’s. The light crossing was on red and, at the time, Mumford, had a piece of paper in his hand. CCTV footage from the bus then shows him lowering his glasses, looking down and reading the paper for four seconds.
He failed to notice Mrs Elmasry crossing the road in front of him. She crossed when the lights changed from red to amber before being hit by the bus.
Mumford immediately stopped the bus but Mrs Elmasry was tragically pronounced dead. She had suffered catastrophic injuries.
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Keith Lowres has been jailed for dangerous driving
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This speeding driver was jailed for hitting a mum crossing the road – narrowly missing her daughter and causing mayhem in Exeter. Keith Lowres struck the woman in Lower Harrington Lane off Pinhoe Road.
She had just collected her young daughter from school and had stepped off the pavement in front of her when she was hit by a Peugeot 508 driven by Lowres. She was thrown into the air and landed on her head, sustaining life-changing injuries.
The car involved in the collision had been stolen the day before and shortly before had been involved in a high speed police chase near Broadclyst which involved Lowres smashing through a road barrier, mounting pavements and hitting speeds of 80mph.
The victim was left with catastrophic injuries, including shattered bones and a fractured skull, and is still rebuilding her life. Lowres was jailed for three years and eight months.
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Stephen Saint
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A driver was jailed for killing a motorcyclist who was on his way to work. Stephen Saint, 64, was disqualified for driving and had cocaine in his blood at the time of the fatal crash.
Saint, who was alone in a minibus after dropping off family members following a Bristol Airport run, was heading home when he crossed the stop lines and collided with a Honda motorcycle ridden by father-of-four Ross Brown who was on his way to work.
He then recklessly cut the corner and advanced three meters into the carriageway before crashing into Mr Brown. He tragically died as a result of the injuries he sustained. Saint was jailed for six years for causing the death of a motorcyclist whilst driving under the influence of a controlled drug.
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James Forrest-Hazell caused a serious injury crash in Exmouth
A teenager drove like an “absolute nutter” when he caused a horror smash that seriously injured a woman in Exmouth. Drug-taking James Forrest-Hazell was just 16 years old when he speeded away from police and smashed into the side of a car waiting at the junction of Dinan Way.
The force of the impact was so hard that it sent the woman’s Fiat 500 flying through the air, over a brick wall and onto the driveway of a house. She was left barely conscious hanging upside down from her seatbelt with her adult son in the passenger seat next to her.
She suffered multiple broken bones in the crash and spent nine days in hospital. Her son was also treated in hospital but escaped serious injury.
Forrest-Hazell, now 18, admitted causing serious injury by dangerous driving and was sentenced to 18 months in a Young Offender Institution. He was banned from driving for 10 years.
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Jamie Poyntz
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This driver caused a massive pile-up on the M5 near Cullompton after undertaking 39 vehicles and averaging 102mph. Jamie Poyntz injured seven people and sent a car containing a family of holidaymakers crashing into a hedge.
The most seriously hurt was a 66-year-old woman who suffered a dislocated elbow. A baby next to her was left hanging upside down in its seat but escaped injury.
Poyntz, 41, was given a hospital order with restrictions after pleading guilty to causing serious injury by dangerous driving and dangerous driving.
The judge called it “absurdly dangerous driving”.
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Crash on A30
A speeding holidaymaker seriously injured three people and himself when he caused a horror crash on the A30 in Devon. Norman Chai made a catastrophic error of judgement by trying to overtake a lorry near Honiton.
He lost control at high speed and in wet conditions. Dash cam footage from the HGV shows the moment he swerved across the lane and crashed into oncoming traffic.
The video sees passengers staggering free from the three-car pile-up and being helped by passers-by. Nine people suffered injuries, five, including Chai himself, were seriously hurt.
He was spared jail and given a suspended sentence, a curfew and disqualified from driving for three years.
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Shaun Dewberry has been jailed for causing a serious crash in Bideford
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An off-duty taxi driver was jailed for causing a horror crash that left a mum crushed and trapped in her wrecked vehicle near Bideford. Shaun Dewberry was on his way home from the pub when he tried to take a straight route through a double bend on Barnstaple Street.
His victim was travelling in the opposite direction when she saw the headlights of his Mercedes hurtling towards her Peugeot on the wrong side of the road. There was no time for either to react to the catastrophic head-on smash.
Dewberry, 39, who was speeding and had been drinking and taking cocaine before getting behind the wheel, left the scene without checking to see if the other driver was injured.