A ‘coward’ driver ignored years of warnings and ruined the lives of three young people as they took a trip to McDonalds. Anthony Campbell wracked up a raft of motoring offences over the course of nearly a decade, but has consistently ignored driving bans and court orders to get behind the wheel.
Campbell’s selfishness inevitably ended in horror when the banned driver left a man and two women seriously injured, ploughing a Mercedes into the side of their Audi at speeds of up to 70mph after running a red light following a funeral. The dad then fled the scene, leaving his victims with injuries including a bleed on the brain and broken pelvises, before telling the police: “I felt arlase, but what can I do?”
Liverpool Crown Court heard this week that Campbell had attended a funeral on October 11 last year, as well as the subsequent wake at the Crown pub in Widnes. Also present were 18-year-old Ciara Morgan, 21-year-old Olivia Smith and 23-year-old Ellis Hayes, who left the premises at around 11.30pm, the ECHO reports.
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Joanne Maxwell, prosecuting, described how the teenager was to drive them to McDonald’s before dropping her two passengers home. But, as she travelled along Birchfield Road towards Kingsway, her Audi was struck to the left hand side by a Mercedes A45 AMG, being driven by Campbell, as she passed through a green traffic light and shunted into a lamppost.
Rear seat occupant Mr Hayes sustained fractures to his ribs, collarbone and spine as a result, as well as bleeding on the brain. He was also said to have suffered a fit while unconscious within the car and remained in hospital until October 16.
Ms Smith, who had been sitting in the front seat, meanwhile sustained two fractures to the left side of her pelvis. The final year university student, receptionist for an accountancy firm and “keen snowboarder” was left requiring help from her family just to shower and dress herself.
She added in a statement which was read to the court on her behalf: “Every night, I’m thinking about this collision which we walked away from and how it could have been a lot worse. We were lucky to survive.”
Driver Ms Morgan suffered a fractured sacrum and a broken nose, as well as being treated for hypothermia due to the amount of time she spent lying in the road after the crash. The care worker, who is required to drive to appointments with her clients, said in her own statement: “I’m worried I won’t be able to get behind the wheel again. I feel that the psychological damage this crash has caused will take a lot longer to heal, if at all.”
Anthony Campbell -Credit:Liverpool Echo
Campbell, of Abbey Close in Widnes, was seen running away from the scene of the collision but then rang Cheshire Police himself around 90 minutes later. During this call, the 26-year-old confessed he had been the driver of the Mercedes but refused to hand himself in.
He was however traced to a hotel and arrested, at which stage he told PCs: “I’ve been nicked for dangerous driving. I’m banned. I’m not a**ed about the whole getting nicked thing.
“I said to them on the phone last night, I know what I’ve done. You know me, I’d run away from anything. But I phoned them and said look, it’s me. I am not going to deny it. I felt arlarse what I’ve done, but what can I do? Know what I mean?”
While being transported into custody, Campbell began to complain of being in pain and became “aggressive and abusive”. After being taken to hospital, the dad told a nurse that he had been travelling at 70mph and was not wearing a seatbelt at the time.
However, he was found to have sustained only minor injuries and was discharged. Campbell has a total of seven previous convictions for 23 offences, with his criminal record including an entry in 2016 for failing to stop, driving without due care and attention and driving without a licence and insurance and an appearance before the courts again later the same year for charges including dangerous driving.
The ECHO then reported in 2019 that Campbell was one of two “yobs” who were caught riding around Liverpool city centre on a Honda motorbike which had been stolen from the Plymouth area the previous year. This led to the then 21-year-old being locked up for 99 weeks for offences of affray and handling stolen goods.
Campbell was then handed an eight-month imprisonment suspended for two years in April last for dangerous driving following a chase with the police in October 2022, at a time when he was riding a motorbike with a pillion passenger. He continued his efforts to escape even after his tyres had been punctured by a stinger.
Carmel Wilde, defending, told the court: “Although, in panic, he fled the scene very foolishly, he realised that he should do the right thing and contact the police. He, of course, should have then handed himself in to the police. Fortunately, they traced him through his telephone.
“He made it clear, in his own language, that he felt remorseful about what happened, and so he should. No doubt the defendant will reflect further on the devastation he has caused.
“He describes it as a bad day from start to finish. He was attending his best friend’s funeral, a friend of 24 who had hung himself. Everyone at the funeral was understandably consoling themselves and drinking, but he wasn’t. He is not someone who usually drinks or takes drugs.
“He knew the victims, and they were in fact sat with him at the wake. All were simply paying their respects to a young man that day. The defendant had not been drinking. His friend was going to drive his car, but he had been drinking. His foolish decision may have been affected by the fact that he suffers from ADHD.
“He certainly accepts that he was driving in excess of the speed limit and must have gone through a red light for the collision to happen. Clearly, he has not learned his lesson.
“His partner is due to have a baby in February. By virtue of his actions, he will not be able to be a role model and father to his child. He has another young child as well, to another partner. These are the people who will suffer most because of his disgraceful actions.”
Campbell admitted three counts of causing serious injury by dangerous driving, failing to stop after an accident, driving while disqualified, driving without insurance and breaching a suspended sentence order. Appearing via video link to HMP Liverpool, he sat with his arms folded as he was jailed for three years and four months and banned from driving for a total of four years and four months on Tuesday.
Sentencing, Judge David Potter said: “You drove vastly in excess of the speed limit, by your own admission in hospital at around 70mph, and paying little or no heed to the conditions. The collision was massive, and it sent their car across the carriageway and into collision with a lamppost.
“All three occupants of that Audi motor vehicle were caused serious injury. You cowardly, and paying no attention to the needs of anyone other than yourself, made off from the scene. The most seriously injured was Ellis Hayes. He will have a slow recovery and a long rehabilitation from these injuries.
“Your remorse does not carry much weight, given that you have persistently ignored court orders. You have consistently ignored the rules of the road. You are, in my judgement, a substantial risk of causing further serious harm by dangerous driving.”