Published date: 01 September 2016 |

Published by: Staff reporter
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TWO Wrexham teens involved in a crash which caused brain damage to their friend will be sentenced at crown court.

Aaron Lee Lloyd and Tristan Jerome Alan Roberts, both 18 and from Gwersyllt, pleaded guilty to aggravated vehicle-taking, using a vehicle without insurance and driving otherwise than in accordance with a licence.

Roberts, who was said to be the main driver of the car, also pleaded guilty to driving without due care and attention during the accident in which their friend Joshua Weeks sustained brain injuries.

Justin Espie, prosecuting at Wrexham Magistrates Court yesterday, said Lloyd’s parents had gone away for the weekend and left a Vauxhall Corsa on their driveway which was driven on the night on February 5.

Roberts found a spare set of keys at Lloyd’s home and the pair decided to take the carout into Wrexham.

Mr Espie said as both had provisional licences and were not insured, the vehicle “simply should not have been driven”.

The court heard the two men drove to Tesco car park, where Lloyd had a short drive of the car, but Roberts was the main driver on the night.

They went and picked up four friends, meaning the five-seater car was overloaded with an extra passenger, and agreed to pick them up again later in the night. After dropping them off in Wrexham, Lloyd and Roberts then continued to drive around.

Mr Espie said the youths then met up with the same four friends in the early hours of February 6 and continued driving around the town.

Interviews with the other four passengers revealed the occupants of the car were playing loud music and talking, adding that at times Roberts was driving “at speed”.

Then they entered a right-hand turn in Bradley at speed and two of the occupants in the back seats, including Lloyd, were thrown through the rear window of the car before it crashed.

Roberts and a passenger called Joshua Weeks had to be extricated from the car by emergency service personnel.

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Mr Espie said Roberts was taken to Stoke hospital in a critical condition and the other passengers sustained various injuries.

He added Mr Weeks suffered major brain damage and several facial fracturesin the crash and needed reconstructive surgery on his facial features.

Elzbeth Kenny, defending Roberts, said her client had been very immature in the first instance and that he had suffered a brain injury himself during the crash.

She added his recollection of the incident did not exist at all but he agreed with the prosecution’s case entirely and said her client conceded he was the main driver.

However, he had remained sober and drink-free throughout.

Miss Kenny asked for a pre-sentence report to be completed ahead of the crown court hearing.

Ian Barnes, for Lloyd, said it was a compliment to his client’s character that he took full responsibility for the taking of the vehicle despite not being the driver and that he had only been concerned about his friends immediately after the crash.

Mr Barnes said: “A lesser man might try to shift responsibility, but he does not want to do that.

“This could be seen as a measure of how honourable he is.”

He added that despite his own injuries during the crash, Lloyd had taken charge of the situation and did all he could to help his friends and the paramedics at the scene, adding he had acted “selflessly” and he was full of genuine remorse for his part in what had happened.

District judge Chris Johnson told the teenagers: “The taking of a vehicle when you have neither the training nor the skill to keep it under control and are not insured or covered is an inherently dangerous act.

“Unfortunately the consequences can sometimes be terrible, as they are in this particular case.”

He bailed the defendants to appear at Mold Crown Court on September 22

.http://www.leaderlive.co.uk/news/166134/man-brain-damaged-in-crash-after-wrexham-teens-took-parents-car.aspx