Kingsey fatal crash trial starts

Greg Stiles, 18, was killed instantly when he collided with another car in a bid to avoid hitting a blue BMW X5 being driven by 26-year-old Sammy Edwards, jurors were told.

His girlfriend of three years, Abi Dowdy of Prestwood, was also seriously injured in the crash after his Ford Fiesta came off the A4129 between Princes Risborough and Thame to prevent a head-on collision.

Reading Crown Court heard Edwards caused the crash due to his “erratic” driving – and went on drive in a similar manner all the way to a service station on the M40.

Originally he told police he had been at home all afternoon – but changed his story and admitted he had been out in the car, which was owned by his father Terry, the court was told.

Neil Moore, prosecuting, told the six male and six female jurors: “The collision which caused the death of Greg Stiles was in fact caused by the dangerous driving of this defendant.

“He embarked on a highly aggressive and dangerous course of driving. He appeared to be determined to overtake any vehicle before him at some considerable speed and without any consideration to other road users.

“On at least two occasions he overtook three vehicles at a time. On another occasion he overtook a car at a speed of 60mph in a small village called Kingsey where the speed limit is 40mph.”

It was while overtaking three vehicles on the A4129 that Edwards caused the crash, Mr Moore told the court.

He said: “He pulled out past two of the vehicles then began to pull in between the lead vehicle and the one behind it, then appeared to change his mind and pulled out again.

“That was done in the path of Greg Stiles, who was travelling in the opposite direction. He was forced to swerve to his near side, to the verge. Had he not done so he would have collided with the front of the defendant's car.

“Having pulled onto the verge he tried to straighten up the car. In doing so he lost control and rotated across the road and was in a collision with another vehicle progressing along the road.”

He said Mr Stiles had flashed his headlights at Edwards before the collision.

“Despite what must have been an almighty collision the defendant did not stop, but sped along the road towards Thame,” Mr Moore said.

Drivers of the cars overtaken just before the crash said independently of each other Edwards was driving “considerably quickly” and “so fast you could almost feel it”, Mr Moore said.

Further along the road Edwards again overtook more than one car at high speed.

The court heard that one driver, Terrance Andrews, said Edwards was driving at 70mph and another, Sam Angell, remarked to his sister Bethany after being overtaken, “Christ, he's going to kill himself.”

Later Edwards 'confronted' motorist Craig Buckingham in what Mr Moore described as a “road rage” attack.

He told the court: “He had, for some reason, slowed down sufficiently for Mr Buckingham to overtake. He continued on his way towards the roundabout on the ring road of Thame.

“Both he and his fiancée noted the very same car came up behind them, flashing its lights. They could see the man driving it was clearly very angry and was waving and shouting in the car.

“As far as they were concerned, they had done nothing wrong.

“The car kept close behind them, flashing its lights. At one point it tried to overtake but was forced to retreat.

“Mr Buckingham feared he was going to be forced off the road.”

Mr Moore said Edwards got out the car and shouted at Mr Buckingham before getting back into his vehicle.

Mr Moore said many witnesses were able to give the colour and make of the car Edwards was driving and some were even able to say it had tinted windows, but none were able to recall its numberplate.

When interviewed by police ten days after the crash Edwards said he had been at home working on his own car in the afternoon, but he had been out with his father to go to a supermarket and a garden centre.

He told officers he only heard there had been a crash the following day.

“He said he hadn't driven the BMW X5 that day,” said Mr Moore. “That, he said, was definite.”

But on April 10, in a statement outlining his case for the defence, Edwards admitted he had been driving the car.

Then in a further statement made on August 9 he said he had been driving on the A4129 and had overtaken three cars and had “successfully and safely” passed the car at the head of the line of traffic. He added he “didn't see or hear any accident behind him and wasn't aware there had been an accident until informed the next day”.

Edwards drove the car to Oxford Services, at junction 8 of the M40 to hand over a car part to someone who wanted to buy it.

He was spotted in the blue BMW by Rachel Clarke, a neighbour of Edwards' girlfriend Danielle Robinson. Mr Moore said she recognised them straight away.

Mobile phone records taken from a phone Edwards had on him when he first went to the police station tracked his movements on the day of the crash from his home, towards Thame and Oxford services.

An attempt was made to call a number listed as 'home' in the phone's contacts book two minutes after the crash was recorded as happening. A minute later a call was made to a number listed as 'home fax'. Both calls were connected to Edwards' home.

A numberplate recognition system captured the BMW coming off the M40 at the junction 4 slipway, the court heard. It was later spotted on CCTV entering the Eden Centre car park.

Records show three phone calls were made from the phone while in Wycombe, Mr Moore said.

He added Mr Stiles' girlfriend Miss Dowdy, who was 17 at the time of the collision, will be called as a prosecution witness, but because of her injuries she is unable to remember the crash.

He told the court: “She states he would show off in the company of male friends but he would always slow down when she told him to and would never let him drive badly or at speed when she was in the car. She made sure he drove slowly and safely.”

Edwards, of Marsh, near Aylesbury, denies causing death by dangerous driving. The trial continues.