M1 wrong way crash: Man jailed after Wakefield horror-ride causes life-threatening injuries for three people

Macaulay Billings, 26, attempted to escape by driving at high speeds in the wrong direction on the M1 near Wakefield, terrifying his two passengers and other road users.

A sentencing hearing at Leeds Crown Court heard how, after a head-on collision with another vehicle, Billings was said to tell police it was a case of “me being me”.

Police saw Billings driving a black Skoda Fabia with false plates in the Lupset area of Wakefield at around 9pm on April 18 this year. The ensuring chase saw speeds of up to 100mph along residential roads.

Despite police attempts to box in the vehicle, Billings drove down a grass verge and into the slip road near junction 40 of the M1.

He then entered an unlit stretch of the motorway and drove in the wrong direction. His two passengers pleaded with Billings to stop the car to let them out, but he refused.

A statement written by one of the passengers said they feared for their lives, as they believed the tyres on the car had already blown out.

Billings then weaved between vehicles for just over three miles, before a head-on collision with a BMW.

The crash caused catastrophic injuries to both the driver of the BMW, and to Billings’s passengers.

The BMW driver lost half a pint of blood and had to have part of his small bowel removed, as well as suffering fractures to his spine, pelvis and ribs. In a statement, the victim told the court he could no longer play sports and suffered symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder.

One of Billings’s passengers had to have his left arm amputated and also suffered a broken leg.

The other passenger suffered from a fractured sternum and broken right and left legs. The court was told that so much metal had been used to reconstruct his legs, that the cold weather caused him great pain.

Judge Robin Mairs later told the court that, following the crash, Billings told police the incident was “just me being me”, and that he had told hospital staff he would “drive again as soon as he left hospital”.

In a statement, one of Billings’s passengers said he “hated Macca for what he had done”, and wanted to see him sent to prison “for a long time”.

Billings, of Cholmley Street, Hull, had pleaded guilty to three counts of serious injury by dangerous driving and three of serious injury by driving while disqualified.

Mitigating for Billings, Nicholas Leadbeater told the court: “There is no mitigation in relation to the offence. The matter speaks for itself.

"He has little recollection, but he takes no issue with the police descriptions of the events.”

Sentencing Billings, Judge Mairs said he wanted to impose the maximum sentence possible, adding: “It’s difficult to think of a more callous disregard of other road users.

“Your passengers begged you to stop – they were aware of the risk of injury and death – you were prepared to take that risk.

"There are three lives that your actions have wrecked.”

Billings was sentenced to 43 months in prison and an eight-year driving disqualification.