Killer who pulled car handbrake in rage is jailed

Gary Toomey caused the car to spin out of control after a row

A man with a "savage temper" who caused a crash that led to his ex-partner's death by pulling on the handbrake while she was driving has been jailed.

Gary Toomey, 37, told police a "feeling had come over him" after a row with Victoria Bell, 34, which led him to cause the crash on the M62 near Liverpool on 24 September 2021.

Ms Bell managed to get free of the wreckage before she was hit and killed by another vehicle on the motorway that could not stop in time.

Toomey, of Hollin Hey Road, Bolton, was sentenced on Thursday to seven years and four months in jail after pleading guilty to manslaughter at Liverpool Crown Court.

'Tragic ramifications'

Toomey lived with Ms Bell at her home in Huddersfield before the relationship ended after it began to break down, the court heard.

The pair, who still saw each other from time to time, had been arguing on the way back from a festival in Liverpool.

Toomey told officers his ex-partner had said she did not want to see him again, and he began to shout at her, before grabbing the handbrake and sending the car into a spin.

The Crown Prosecution Service said Toomey had pulled the brake "in temper" in an "appalling" action that had "tragic ramifications".

Ms Bell managed to get out of the vehicle after it crashed into a central reservation at about 23:30 BST on the M62 nearby the Clock Face Colliery Country Park.

But she was then hit by another car and died almost instantaneously, the court heard.

Investigators found the other driver had insufficient time and distance to react and avoid hitting her.

They said the wrecked car appeared "all of a sudden" with no lights on an unlit part of motorway, making it "really hard to see it until the last moment".

Toomey, who managed to get to safety after the crash, was described as a "control freak with a savage temper" by Ms Bell's mother, the court heard.

"Your actions have ruined my life forever," she said in a victim impact statement.

Toomey, an HGV driver was also disqualified from driving for two years.