A teenager who killed a maths teacher after taking laughing gas at the wheel of his landrover has been jailed for nine years.
Jacob Gaskell mounted the pavement and ploughed into Laura Hazeldine after he passed out while inhaling the gas during a late-night jaunt to celebrate his 19th birthday on April 8.
The teenager regained consciousness moments after the impact and fled the scene, leaving Mrs Hadeldine, 44, on the roadside with fatal injuries.
The mum of three later died in hospital despite doctors’ best efforts to save her.
Twin brothers who were standing near Mrs Hazeldine when she was hit were also injured in the crash, with one suffering a fractured spine.
Investigations later revealed Gaskell from Ince, Wigan, Greater Manchester, had taken cocaine and smoked cannabis on the night of the crash.
He was subject to a two-year ban from driving at the time and had never passed his driving test.
Last February he was made subject to a suspended sentence after leading police on a high-speed car chase in a stolen delivery van, he also had previous convictions for assaulting two PCs.
Gaskell admitted causing death by dangerous driving, causing serious injury by dangerous driving, driving whilst disqualified, driving without a license or insurance and failing to stop after an accident, when he appeared at Bolton Crown Court.
The court heard Gaskell jumped behind the wheel of the silver Freelander which was classed as an ‘off road’ vehicle before picking up a male friend and then offering a lift to three girls.
None of the group wore seat belts and loud music was being played inside the vehicle, the court was told.
The passengers started inhaling nitrous oxide and Gaskell began blowing balloons and snorting the gas as he began to accelerate.
The girls asked to be let out of the car but Gaskell ignored them and carried on driving before jumping a red light.
Mrs Hazeldine who taught at Ernulf Academy in St Neots, Cambridgeshire had been visiting family in Wigan and had gone to Fifteens bar in Pemberton, Wigan with her sister Rachel on the night of the crash.
She was outside at around 9pm when Gaskell lost control of the Land Rover after overtaking a line of traffic.
One of his passengers saw his head drop as the car mounted the pavement before ploughing into Mrs Hazeldine, soldier Jack Atherton and his twin brother Ben who was about to join the army.
Ben was hit with such force he was seen to spin around in the air before landing on the ground.
He suffered a fractured lower spine and three bleeds to the brain which left him immobile for two months.
Jack suffered bruises and cuts to his head in the impact.
One of the occupants of the Land Rover needed 11 stitches to their head. Gaskell however escaped with minor injuries.
The teenager, who appeared via video link from jail sobbed as Mrs Hazeldine’s mum, Gillian Webster, told the court the crash had ‘devasted her family’.
‘Laura touched the lives of everyone she met,’ she said.
‘We will never forget the severe injuries she sustained and her fight for life that night as I watched her sadly pass away.’
Mitigating, Andrew Nuttall said Gaskell had mental health issues including low moods and emotionally unstable personality disorder.
‘[Gaskell’s] thoughts and expressions of remorse are not for himself but for the victim’s family and friends,’ Mr Nuttall said.
‘He is not going to be forgiven for what he did and he will have to live with his shame and this tragedy for the rest of his life.
‘He’s not much more than a boy and it will be a potentially long life for him learning to live with what he has done.’
Gaskell was given a nine-year prison sentence and a ten-year driving ban which will start when he is freed.
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