Banned driver left three people injured and trapped after this horrific Calderdale hit-and-run car crash

Luke Elder, 27, and his passenger both fled the crash scene after the speeding BMW he had bought just a few weeks earlier smashed head-on into a Skoda Octavia on the ”Brearley bends” near Mytholmroyd in September last year.

Bradford Crown Court heard how the force of the impact ripped out the engine of the BMW and the Skoda, which contained a couple and their adult son, was pushed into a wall and written off.

Another driver estimated that the BMW was doing “60-70mph plus” on the single carriageway road as it overtook him on the approach to the blind bend.

Prosecutor Chloe Hudson said after the collision Elder ran past the damaged Skoda and his passenger followed him.

Fire crews had to cut out a section of the car to free the injured occupants who had been driving to a family celebration in Mytholmroyd that evening.

Elder was not arrested and interviewed about the crash until November 2020, but the court heard that after being released he was again stopped driving a speeding Audi A5 in Hebden Bridge less than three weeks later.

The Skoda driver’s parents were both badly injured in the crash with his mum suffering multiple fractures to her sternum, vertebrae and ribs.

His father fractured three ribs in the crash and was off work for six weeks while the driver himself was off work for four weeks and had to use crutches to help him walk for a time.

Elder, of Mytholm Close, Hebden Bridge, pleaded guilty in July to a charge of causing serious injury by dangerous driving, driving while disqualified, driving without insurance and failing to stop or report an accident.

His previous convictions revealed that the age of just 10 Elder had been dealt with by the courts for aggravated vehicle taking and in 2016 he had twice been prosecuted for failing to give his name and address after an accident.

Barrister Peter Byrne, for Elder, said his client was realistic about the sentence he would receive.

“He says he never set out to harm anyone,” said Mr Byrne.

“He expresses, I submit, appropriate and genuine remorse not for the position he finds himself in but for the injuries he’s caused and the lasting effect of them.”

Judge Neil Davey QC explained that the maximum sentence for causing serious injury by dangerous was set at five years.

He said Elder’s offences were made more serious by his previous convictions and his later offence in December last year.

“In my judgement they were committed against a background of both previous and subsequent offending which shows a complete contempt for the law and the safety of other people,” the judge told Elder.

The judge said after the crash Elder had the choice to stop and try and offer some help or to run off thinking of nobody but himself.

He said said Elder had chosen to run off leaving the occupants of the Skoda trapped in a car and unable to get out.

Judge Davey explained that Elder would have been jailed for four years following a trial but his guilty pleas meant he was entitled to a 25 per cent reduction to three years in prison.

Elder will now be banned from driving for four-and-a-half years and he must take an extended driving test before lawfully driving on the roads again.