A TEENAGER has admitted his dangerous driving caused life-changing injuries to two pedestrians who were badly hurt in a horror crash in central Carlisle.
Owen Luke Brown, 19, was told by a judge at Carlisle Crown Court he could be jailed after admitting two offences arising out of a shocking collision involving his Ford Fiesta, a taxi and several members of the public who were stood on a pavement. This occurred outside the Border Rambler pub on Botchergate at around 7pm on September 15 last year.
A Cumbria police spokesman said in the aftermath of the incident that a number of pedestrians had suffered “varying degrees of injury”.
Two Whitehaven men – one aged in his 20s and another in his 50s – were said to have suffered serious injuries. Four other people, including a Carlisle pensioner, reportedly suffered minor injuries.
Brown had previously denied causing serious injury to both Adam Bunting and Glen O’Fee by dangerous driving, and was due to stand trial this week. But he admitted both offences when he appeared before Judge David Potter this afternoon (MON).
During the same hearing, Skoda Octavia taxi driver Stephen Reay, 57, admitted a careless driving charge.
Paul Tweddle, defending, conceded of Brown: “He has affected the lives of Mr Bunting, Mr O’Fee and others as a result of what he has done.”
Judge Potter ordered background reports on both men, and adjourned the case to November 8, when they will be sentenced at the crown court.
Both Brown, of Dalston Road, Carlisle, and Reay, of Cocklakes Cottages, Cumwhinton, were granted bail in the meantime. But Judge Potter, who imposed an interim driving ban on Brown, told the teenager all sentencing options would be available, adding: “Foremost in the court’s mind will be immediate imprisonment.”
