A teenager has been jailed for more than nine years for causing the death of three of his friends by dangerous driving after inhaling nitrous oxide.
Thomas Johnson, 19, was travelling at speeds of more than 100mph in June last year when the BMW 3 series he was driving crashed, killing his three passengers.
Those killed in the crash in Marcham, near Abingdon, Oxfordshire, were Elliot Pullen, 17, Ethan Goddard, 18 and Daniel Hancock, 18.
On Wednesday Johnson was sentenced to nine years and four months in prison. Passing sentence at Oxford crown court, the judge, Emma Nott, told Johnson he would be “forever defined” by his “teenage mistakes”.
She said his facial disfigurement as a result of the crash would be a “permanent reminder” to himself and others that he had killed his friends.
“Your three passengers will never see beyond their teenage years, and you move out of yours significantly and permanently disabled,” the judge said.
She listed some of Johnson’s other injuries, including brain trauma, a collapsed lung, cracked ribs, and permanent loss of sight in one eye. She also said Johnson had been in an induced coma after the crash and that he suffers from amnesia, “moderately severe” depression and anxiety.
The judge said that at time of the crash Johnson was “highly impaired by the consumption of drugs”.
The court was shown video clips recovered from the phones of those who had been travelling in the car in which a balloon, typically used to inhale nitrous oxide, could be seen in Johnson’s mouth.
Neil Moore, prosecuting, told the court: “It’s quite clear on the evidence that the defendant had been taking nitrous oxide from the canister with the assistance of a balloon to inhale it for some considerable time before the collision.”
A forensic investigation found that at the time of the crash the car was travelling at up to 87mph along a stretch of the A415 where the speed limit was 30mph, and it was travelling at more than 100mph shortly before Johnson lost control of the vehicle.
After the sentencing, a Crown Prosecution Service lawyer, Bill Khindey, said: “Thomas Johnson’s disregard for the safety of others that night was clear.
“His dangerous driving had devastating consequences – tragically cutting short the lives of three young men. This is a responsibility he must reflect on as he serves his time in prison. We recognise that no sentence can alleviate the pain suffered by the families of Elliot, Ethan and Daniel, and our thoughts remain with them.”
Moore told the court that effects of the nitrous oxide included “disorientation” and “general impairment”.
Johnson, from Shrivenham, near Swindon, pleaded guilty, in front of members of the victims’ families, to all three counts of causing death by dangerous driving.
