Man jailed over drunk teenage girl's crash death

The court was told that Tara Wright, 17, was "dragged" from the scene of the crash

A man who let a drunk teenage girl, with no driving licence, drive his car has been sent to jail.

Tara Wright, 17, crashed the car and died shortly after going behind the wheel.

The car's owner, Sammy Bingham, 34, who was a passenger in the vehicle, was given a 14-month sentence with seven months on licence.

After the crash in 2019, he did not call the emergency services. Initially he left the scene, then returned with friends who put the teenage girl into a different car and took her to Belfast's City Hospital.

Another person in the car, a silver Mercedes, suffered a brain injury and multiple skull fractures but survived. He had been sitting in the back seat.

'Wilfully turned a blind eye'

Belfast Crown Court was told that Tara Wright had been at a pub in Ballygowan, County Down, with friends and was four times over the legal alcohol limit for driving.

She did not have a driving licence and was warned by others not to go behind the wheel.

The car's owner, Bingham, from Winona Crest in Craigavon, was the front-seat passenger.

Judge Philip Gilpin told him "he wilfully turned a blind eye to Tara's condition".

In November last year, Bingham pleaded guilty to two charges relating to the case.

One of the charges related to his actions after the crash.

The court was told that Ms Wright was "dragged" from the scene of the crash, put into another car and taken to Belfast's City Hospital where a passing ambulance was waved down.

The court was told that an earlier medical intervention may have briefly prolonged her life, but her injuries were so severe that it would have been impossible to save her. She had not been wearing a seatbelt.

Prosecution counsel Sam Magee KC said the actions of Bingham had "worsened Tara's condition and thereby hastened her tragically inevitable death".

Bingham was 29 at the time.

Although he went with his friends in the car to the City Hospital, he then left and was later arrested having been seen washing his hands at a petrol station on the nearby Donegall Road.

On the night in question, he was twice the alcohol limit for driving, and tests found traces of drugs in his system.

The court was told that a friend had driven his car to the pub in Ballygowan and he had no intention of driving himself.

It is estimated that the vehicle was travelling at 53mph (85kph) before the crash, at a bend near Manse Road.

The court was told Bingham had been distracted by another friend when Tara Wright had been warned not to get behind the wheel, and he was not fully aware of her fitness to drive.

The judge called it a "shocking" and "tragic" case.