Motorists convicted after woman left permanently disabled

Two men have been convicted after causing a car crash that left one woman permanently disabled and two others seriously injured.

Lee Unwin, 37, from Chadderton, was convicted of dangerous driving today, after a four-day trial.

Joel Wharmby, 24, of Victoria Street, Littleborough had earlier pleaded guilty to the same offence.

Unwin, who was riding a Suzuki motorbike and Wharmby, who was driving a Noble M12 GTO, were driving dangerously down Manchester Road on Saturday 29 September 2007 when the collision happened.

That afternoon, Samantha Butterworth, who was then 33, was in a car driving through Rochdale on her way back from a shopping trip with her friends.

Ms Butterworth was in the back of her friend's Renault Clio, and they were waiting on Manchester Road to turn right onto New Barn Lane.

Wharmby and Unwin were driving in the opposite direction at speeds of more than 60 miles an hour.

As Ms Butterworth's friend took the right turn, which would have been safe had oncoming traffic not been speeding, Wharmby's car hit the back end of the Clio with such force that witnesses said it sounded like an explosion.

Ms Butterworth and the other two women who were in the back of the Clio, then both aged 25, were all thrown from the car with the force of the collision.

All three women were critically injured, and taken immediately to hospital.

The two 25-year-olds remained in hospital for seven weeks after the collision being treated for serious head injuries.

Ms Butterworth, however, is still in hospital today and she will never fully recover from the injuries she sustained in the crash.

The driver of the Clio and the front seat passenger were less seriously injured in the crash.

Wharmby was also injured in the collision. Unwin, however, avoided the collision on his motorbike. He stopped a short distance down the road, but instead of calling an ambulance, he got out his phone and called his father.

He then left the scene without offering to help any of the injured people.

Sergeant Simeon Holt, from the traffic unit at Chadderton, said: "The stupid, childish actions of these two men have ruined not just Samantha's chances of living a normal life, but have greatly affected her family's happiness too.

"I find it hard to believe that anyone would ever drive like this when everyone knows how dangerous cars can be. Clearly, Wharmby and Unwin could not have been less bothered about the safety of other road users."

A date for sentencing will be set at court tomorrow.