A danger driver was warned he could be jailed for leaving a fellow motorist badly hurt after an A66 horror smash.
Caroline Musimwa, from Penrith, was in her Fiat Panda within a layby, off the A66 dual carriageway close to Stainmore, on the late afternoon of August 1, 2022.
As Ms Musimwa prepared to pull out of the layby, an eastbound Nissan Qashqai careered across lane one and smashed into her stationary car, shunting it up an embankment.
One HGV driver witness later spoke of a “massive impact” which, Carlisle Crown Court heard, left the Fiat driver with “terrible injuries”.
She was rendered unconscious with paramedics initially struggling to find a pulse before she was transported to the James Cook University Hospital at Middlesbrough.
Neither she nor Nissan driver Dean Shakespeare recalled the crash but it was captured on another driver’s dash cam.
Shakespeare, 45, suffered bruising in the collision and was described by witnesses looking “distant” and “vacant” in the aftermath. Two wagon drivers noted he made no attempt to check on Ms Musimwa’s welfare.
In court, Shakespeare admitted causing serious injury by dangerous driving and told a judge and apologised to the woman.
Post-collision analysis showed he had unlawful drug ecstasy in his bloodstream above the legal driving limit.
Shakespeare described working 12-hour shifts on four days before the crash at Kendal Calling music festival near Penrith in his role as artist liaison manager. He consumed a drink he was given by an unidentified man as he left the backstage area. He believed it to be fizzy alcoholic water being offered on site by sponsors. No alarm bells were raised and he had never ever taken any drugs.
He woke in the morning feeling unwell and, despite having a headache, began a journey home to York which ended abruptly with the crash.
After hearing evidence, Judge Nicholas Barker concluded that Shakespeare, of South View Terrace, York, did not deliberately ingest the ecstasy. But the judge ruled that he was “significantly unwell” and fatigued as he drove home.
“That, in my judgement, should have put the defendant on real notice that he was not safe to drive; that it was a risk and that that needed to be very, very carefully monitored,” said Judge Barker. “That he did not do.”
Shakespeare was bailed and is due to be sentenced on September 15 with all sentencing options, including prison, remaining open.
