'Racing' drivers jailed after leaving woman permanently disabled

The crash scene on Manchester Road shows the smashed up Clio and Wharmby's Noble.

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Two men, one from Littleborough, who caused a collision that left one woman permanently disabled and two others seriously injured, have been jailed.

Joel Wharmby, 24, of Victoria Street, had already pleaded guilty to dangerous driving ahead of his sentence yesterday (Wednesday 27 May). He will spend 16 months in prison and has been disqualified from driving for three years.

The second man, Lee Unwin, from Chadderton, has been sentenced to two years in prison and has been disqualified from driving for three years.

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

That afternoon, Samantha Butterworth, who was then 33, was a passenger 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 out of Rochdale at speeds well in excess of 60 miles an hour in the 40 mph speed limit.

As Ms Butterworth's friend took the right turn, which would have been safe had Wharmby and Unwin not been speeding towards them, 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 injuries.

Ms Butterworth is still receiving treatment for her injuries today and she will never fully recover from the injuries she sustained in the crash.

Wharmby was also injured in the collision but Unwin 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 calling the emergency services or offering to help any of the injured people.

Police Constable Martin Slater, from the Road Policing Unit at Chadderton, said: "Neither men knew each other but took it upon themselves to race at excessive speed down a busy road.

"Their stupid, childish actions have ruined not just Samantha's chances of living a normal life, but have greatly affected her family's happiness too.

"The fact Unwin left the scene of this terrible collision, when three innocent women had been thrown from their car, is inexcusable and it is only by the grace of god that no one was killed.

"Driving like they did proves that clearly, Wharmby and Unwin could not have been less bothered about the safety of other road users."