Teenage motorist who killed mum-of-three after inhaling laughing gas jailed

A teenage motorist who killed a mum-of-three after driving into her outside of a bar in Wigan has been jailed.

Jacob Gaskell also injured two other pedestrians when he mounted the pavement in his Land Rover Freelander down Ormskirk Road, Pemberton on the evening of Friday April 8th, one day before his nineteenth birthday.

The incident happened just two months after he was handed a two month suspended sentence for a previous driving offence. 

Bolton Crown Court heard that Gaskell had been inhaling laughing gas at the wheel, while blood tests later showed he had used cocaine and cannabis before the crash.

GMP

Prosecution barrister Rachel Woods told the court that Gaskell had picked up a number of passengers in Garswood and was driving to Pemberton, with one of the passengers reporting that Gaskell was speeding and going through red lights.

The passenger also said Gaskell inhaled nitrous oxide from a balloon while driving before mounted the pavement, smashing into three pedestrians and hitting the pub wall and a lamp post.

The other two victims were twin brothers Jack and Ben Atherton, with the latter suffering a fractured lower spine and three bleeds to the brain after being ‘catapulted’ into the air.

Following the crash, Gaskell fled the scene on foot, leaving mum-of-three Laura Hazeldine, forty-four, dying outside of the pub.

Hazeldine, lived and worked as a maths teacher in Cambridgeshire, but had been visiting her family at the time of the incident.

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She suffered catastrophic injuries and was rushed to Royal Albert Edward Infirmary, where numerous attempts to resuscitate her were made. However, she later died in the hospital.

Laura’s mum Gillian Webster read out a moving victim impact statement in court,  “She was a loving, kind person… Laura touched the lives of everyone she met.

“Laura’s life was working hard and being the best mum, daughter, sister, work colleague and teacher, while studying for her degree in mathematics.

“We will never forget the severe injuries she sustained and her fight for life that night as I watched her sadly pass away.”

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Mitigating, Andrew Nuttall said nineteen-year-old Gaskell had mental health issues including low moods and an emotionally unstable personality disorder, likely caused by his persistent drug use from the age of fourteen.

He told the court: “[Gaskell’s] thoughts and expressions of remorse are not for himself but for the victim’s family and friends.

“He is not going to be forgiven for what he did and he will have to live with his shame and this tragedy for the rest of his life. He’s not much more than a boy and it will be a potentially long life for him learning to live with what he has done.”

Gaskell was handed a nine-year prison sentence and a ten-year driving ban which will start when he is freed.