Man jailed for killing young woman in horror smash
A driver who killed a young woman as he tried to outrun police has been jailed for six-and-a-half years.
Branden Daniels, 20, was behind the wheel of a stolen Audi which was being pursued by police in Kingstanding, in Birmingham, on July 29.
The court heard how the A3 was travelling down Kingsland Road at around 72mph when it careered over a crossroads and a hit a VW Golf, on Wandsworth Road.
The collision was was so forceful that the VW Golf flew into the air and flipped over on a horizontal axis a number of times before smashing into the side of a house.
Twenty-year-old Sarah Giles, the front seat passenger in the Golf, was pronounced dead at the scene.
A 21-year-old occupant of the A3 and the 22-year-old driver of the Golf were seriously hurt in the smash and have been left with life-changing injuries.
Daniels and other occupants of the Audi ran off, but were detained by residents who later identified him as the driver. Officers examining his phone found several video clips showing him in a vehicle being driven at speeds of up to 140mph.
Daniels, of Chingford Road, Kingstanding, was sentenced to six-and-a-half years in a young offenders institute at Birmingham Crown Court on Friday(23) – having pleaded guilty to causing death and serious injury by dangerous driving at an earlier hearing.
In a tribute, Sarah's parents said: "Sarah Giles our loving daughter, granddaughter, sister, aunt, and friend.
"She brought sunshine into the lives of everybody who knew her, with her wonderful smile and beautiful heart. Our lives have been devastated by her death."
