Jordon White, 20, had no licence and was high on marijuana when he crossed double white lines on a hill to overtake an Audi on January 18.
The black Corsa, which had fake plates and would have failed a MOT, spun out of control on Toddington Road, near the village of Tebworth in Bedfordshire, and crashed into a hedge before backing into a tree.
Ellie Ogden-Cooper, White’s ex-girlfriend, was thrown from the car and died in a field. Reece White, 23, was discovered dead in the back seat.
A 21-year-old man in the front seat and a 16-year-old boy in the back seat were both seriously injured.
White, of Wallis Drive, Leighton Buzzard, was sentenced to six years in prison after pleading guilty to two counts of causing death by dangerous driving and two counts of causing serious injury by dangerous driving at St Albans crown court.
“This defendant was driving a car with four other people in it,” said prosecutor Stefan Weidmann. It passed another car at high speed while crossing double white lines on the crest of a hill. It was a terrible piece of driving.
He was driving while unlicensed and high on drugs.” Warnings about his driving had gone unheeded. He had no insurance and no MOT. He fled from his friends and brother, leaving others to assist.”
The divers who discovered a once-in-a-lifetime shipwreck and kept it a secret for 15 years
The future James II narrowly escaped the sinking of the HMS Gloucester, a wreck that had lain undiscovered for over 300 years.
Wikimedia Commons/Norfolk Historic Shipwrecks
The court heard that White had paid £400 for the Corsa, which would have failed its MOT, centuries after the sinking that nearly killed him. Its airbags did not deploy, and its licence plates were forged.
He had picked up Ms Ogden-Hooper from Flitwick, and his front seat passenger had complained that he was driving recklessly in order to impress her. He claimed that they had been smoking cannabis all day and that White had been flaunting himself.
White only had a provisional licence, and none of the others could supervise him.
White and the two surviving passengers fled after the crash, and he was discovered hiding in a shed nearly two hours later.
White, who had multiple fractures, claimed he was a passenger in the car while his brother drove. A blood sample taken from him revealed a cannabis level of 2.6mg, well above the legal limit of 2mg.
Ms Ogden-mother Hooper’s said her daughter, a caregiver, had a lot to look forward to.
As a family, we will never be able to get over the loss of our beautiful Ellie.” We’re shattered. “All we have are our precious memories,” she explained.
“We are devastated by the loss of Reece,” said Reece White’s family. He was adored as a son, brother, and grandson.
“He left an indelible mark on everyone he met and a void in the family that will never be filled.” He will be remembered for the rest of his life.”
He has to live with what he did that day,” he said. He expressed genuine regret for causing Ellie’s family and himself pain.”
Judge Michael Kay QC, who sentenced him to prison, stated that White had been “Driving too fast and showing off,” then fleeing the scene “cowardly.
“In a callous and utterly despicable manner, you sought to blame your own deceased brother for what occurred,” he said.
“It’s almost beyond comprehension that you tried to assign blame to him in order to save your own skin.”
White was barred from driving for nine years by the judge.
Two drivers who stopped to assist Reece White in his car will each receive a £500 High Sheriff’s award.
