A British soldier caused the death of two teenage colleagues when his packed car skidded out of control and smashed into trees during a drive to a Halloween party, a jury has been told.
Seven people, some wearing fancy dress, were allegedly crammed into the five-seater Renault Clio driven by Pte Bradley Clough when it crashed close to Tidworth barracks in Wiltshire, Winchester crown court heard.
Lance corporal Jack Paolucci, 19, and his 18-year-old fiancee, Pte Courtney Jennings, who had been sitting on her partner’s lap on the back seat, were killed and two other passengers, Jack Latus and Kallum Ryan, were seriously injured in the accident on the night of 29 October 2021.
The jury was told that Clough had allegedly been told to “chill” shortly before he “attacked” a corner and lost control of the car.
Clough, 25, from Bacup, Lancashire, denies two charges of causing death by dangerous driving and two of causing serious injury by dangerous driving.
Mary Aspinall-Miles, prosecuting, said Clough was on guard duty that night but “got somebody to cover for him” and “shipped off” to give his friends a lift.
She said he made the decision to “cram his tiny car with too many people” for the 20-minute drive from Tidworth to a Halloween event at the Cameo nightclub in Andover, Hampshire.
Aspinall-Miles said: “A car which had five seatbelt places, a car which could should have carried at most five people, instead carried seven.”
Clough and his brother, Oliver, were in the front with the remaining five people crammed into the back, including Jennings sitting on Paolucci’s lap. “All are adults – these are not small waifs of people,” the prosecutor said.
Aspinall-Miles said there was “laughing and singing” during the journey, but as they left Tidworth in the dark Latus told Clough to slow down after becoming concerned at his driving and told him to “chill” as he allegedly approached a right-hand turn “too aggressively”.
The prosecutor added: “Mr Latus says despite all that, he attacks the corner and skids out of control. Once it was out of control, sadly for Jack Paolucci and Courtney Jennings and everybody else in the car, it looks like Mr Clough could not regain control of the car and it makes impact with trees on the other side of the road. It is his responsibility to drive in a safe, careful and competent manner and he chose not to.”
She said the crash was “not so much about the speed” but more about the effect of “overloading” the car. Aspinall-Miles said Clough had a slow puncture on the vehicle’s rear nearside wheel, which may have contributed to loss of control.
The trial, which is expected to last five days, continues.
