'I could not react in time': Driver on trial for causing high-speed Leeds road death gives evidence
Motorist travelling at 80 in 50mph zone in powerful BMW says he had no time to react in crash that killed teenager.
A motorist who ploughed into another car at high speed, killing its young passenger, has told a court that he only noticed the vehicle when it was too late to avoid a collision.
Thomas Sherwood was behind the wheel of the borrowed BMW M3 that smashed into the rear of a Seat Mii on the A63 near Garforth.
Georgia Bendelow, 18, was in the front passenger seat and suffered catastrophic head injuries.
Georgia’s mother, who was driving, and Georgia’s boyfriend, who was a backseat passenger in the Seat, also suffered injuries.
Sherwood is on trial at Leeds Crown Court this week, having denied causing death by dangerous driving and two counts of causing serious injury through dangerous driving.
Giving evidence, the 36-year-old said he had been in the Lord Gascoigne pub in Garforth on the evening of August 31, 2022.
He had drunk one-and-a-half pints of lager before borrowing a pal’s BMW that he mistakenly thought he was insured on, to pick up another friend. There was no suggestion he was over the drink-drive limit.
Having picked up the friend, they then travelled back to Garforth coming off the Colton roundabout and heading along the A63.
The Seat had been stationary at the side of the road but had pulled away and moved into the first lane, then the outer lane of the dual carriageway.
Travelling well in excess of the speed limit, the BMW smashed into the rear of the Seat.
The Seat was spun around and sent through a gap in the central-reservation barriers, ending up on the opposite side before coming to a halt. Miss Bendelow was airlifted to hospital but died two days later.
Road-collision experts agreed that Sherwood was averaging 80mph in the moments before the crash. The road is a 50mph limit.
Giving evidence on day two, 36-year-old Sherwood denied he was “weaving in and out of traffic” moments before the smash, as witnesses had claimed.
He said: “Once the road straightened out, I do not believe there was anything in my line of sight.
“I do not know what speed I was doing.
“I do not feel like I was driving in any manner that was hazardous or a danger to anyone else.”
He said he only saw the Seat “when it was in front of me”.
He added: “I distinctly remember seeing the car at an angle. I did not understand where it had come from because I did not see it.
“It was just coming into lane two. It all happened so fast. I do not initially remember being able to react. It happened in such close proximity.”
One witness had previously said that the engine of the BMW sounded like a “jet engine”, such was the ferocity of his acceleration, and under cross examination, prosecutor Brian Russell told Sherwood: “You floored it. You stuck your foot down as hard as you could, didn’t you?”
Sherwood responded: “I do not believe this to be entirely true, yes I may have accelerated quicker than those around me. I do not believe I floored it as hard as I could.”
Sherwood, of Cartmel Drive, Halton, also denied he was racing, after Mr Russell suggested he was pushing the car to see “what it was capable of”.
The trial continues.