Utterby crash: Four guilty of causing woman's death by dangerous driving

Denii Reynolds died after a crash on the A16 at Utterby, near Louth, in October 2021

Four men have been found guilty of causing the death by dangerous driving of a 20-year-old woman in a collision.

Denii Reynolds, from Grimsby, died in the crash on the A16 at Utterby, near Louth, Lincolnshire, in October 2021.

Ms Reynolds was travelling in a Citroen C1 driven by Keelan Tuke, 21, when it hit a Vauxhall Corsa. She died later at the scene.

Lincoln Crown Court heard Tuke, along with three other men, had been racing each other at the time.

Tuke, of Grafton Street, Grimsby, Riley Duncombe, 19, of Thesiger Walk, Grimsby, Keigan Launder, 23, of Louth Road, Grimsby, and Josh Dobb, 21, of Hadleigh Road, Immingham, were also convicted of a second charge of causing serious injury by dangerous driving to the occupant of the Corsa.

The jury convicted all four men, who were friends, of both charges after deliberating for three days.

The court had previously heard claims the four defendants were racing each other before the crash on 26 October 2021.

They were driving at "grossly excessive speeds" before Tuke's vehicle clipped a kerb and veered across the road into the path of the Corsa in a 50mph (80km/h) zone.

According to analysis of dashcam footage, Dobb's vehicle had been travelling at up to 99mph (159km/h) shortly before the crash, while Tuke's top speed had been calculated to be 98mph (157km/h).

Ms Reynolds suffered catastrophic injuries as a result of the collision and was pronounced dead at the scene, while the driver of the Corsa suffered a smashed right foot, a broken right leg and a broken wrist, the jury was told.

All four drivers were travelling at "grossly excessive speeds" in the moments before the crash, the court heard

During the trial, an additional charge of causing Ms Reynolds' death by careless driving was put to the four defendants.

Tuke pleaded guilty to this offence, while the other three men pleaded not guilty.

Jeremy Janes, prosecuting, said it was not disputed that Tuke had caused the death of Ms Reynolds and serious injury to the driver of the Corsa.

However, he said: "Put simply, we say all four of these defendants were effectively racing each other along the A16, one behind the other, all doing grossly excessive speeds."

Mr Janes said all four defendants had driven from Cleethorpes to Louth on the night of the crash and had a "cavalier approach" to driving and to other road users.

"The way they had been driving - too fast, too close - bears all the hallmarks of competitive driving against each other in some sort of misplaced act of bravado," he added.

After the jury gave its verdict, Judge James House KC told the court: "Here a young lady lost her life, a woman was seriously injured and four young men of previous good character have been on trial."

He adjourned sentencing until 24 November and granted the defendants bail, but he warned: "A custodial sentence of some length is inevitable in this case."