Anthony Whittaker jailed for killing two dads in drunken crash
Mar 13 2009 by Neil Mckay, The Journal
Whittaker, who had three passengers in his car, including a 14-year-old boy, drove bumper to bumper behind another car containing a Portuguese motorist and his two young children, as Whittaker’s occupants racially abused the driver.
He narrowly missed oncoming vehicles after racing away from a busy supermarket car park following a theft of the lager.
Seconds after racially abusing the Portuguese motorist, Jose Sentana, Whittaker lost control of the white Rover as he tried to speed past another car approaching a traffic island in Bishop Auckland.
Mr Wetherburn and Mr Hardwick were waiting to cross the A688 after returning from a trip collecting conkers with Mr Hardwick’s young children when the Rover ploughed into them.
Whittaker, of Cheesmond Avenue, Bishop Auckland, had at a previous hearing at Durham Crown Court admitted two counts of causing death by dangerous driving, two counts of driving while disqualified and theft.
However, he denied a charge of driving with excess alcohol.
Whittaker took to the witness stand at the court to claim that he had fled the scene of the crash “because I panicked” and ran to his cousin Natalie’s home nearby.
He claimed he had found a small bottle of vodka in his pocket which he then drank, resulting in failing a breathalyser after his arrest.
Judge Peter Bowers, who told Whittaker that he had been “driving like a maniac,” ruled that the defendant had been drinking at the time of the fatal crash.
Passing sentence, the judge said: “You have two deaths on your conscience and you also have people seriously injured by the way you drove.
“The cowardly thing you did was run away and the despicable thing you did was lie and lie again to try and wriggle out of it.”
As well as sentencing Whittaker to 10 years’ imprisonment, the judge banned him from driving for 17 years.
He also passed sentences of six months for theft and four months for driving while disqualified, to run concurrently.
The packed public gallery clapped and cheered as Whittaker was led away by two dock officers. They yelled abuse at him after he turned and gave a defiant clenched fist wave.
