A QUAD bike rider who killed his girlfriend in a crash is today beginning a six-year jail sentence.
James Perkins had cannabis and diazepam in his system when he “recklessly” ignored clear safety warnings to allow Lyndsay Young as a passenger on his solo off-roader.
Perkins had already performed a series of stunts to impress Lyndsay near the beach at Sandy Bay in North Seaton, Northumberland.
He even let the popular 21-year-old, from Ashington, sit in front of him to briefly take the controls – making the powerful Suzuki machine unbalanced and dangerously overloaded, Newcastle Crown Court heard.
Perkins took over from her to cut the quad across the corner of a pathway to “frighten or impress” Lyndsay.
And the bike struck rocks and the front wheels left the ground, leading to the fatal collision, the court was told.
Amanda Rippon, prosecuting, said: “The defendant could not do anything to stop or control the quad and it hit a tree. Witnesses saw first Miss Young and then the defendant thrown from the bike and Miss Young hit the tree.
Lyndsay, a support worker and former pupil at Ashington Community High School, suffered massive head injuries. She was pronounced dead at the scene.
Perkins, a decorator from Cavendish Gardens, Ashington, survived the impact with a fractured cheek, broken eye socket, and double break to his leg.
The 30-year-old was initially charged with manslaughter but entered an accepted plea to causing Lyndsay’s death by dangerous driving on April 17 last year. He had previously maintained he was not controlling the bike when the accident happened.
Tests on his blood revealed both cannabis – which he claimed he had smoked the night before the crash – and diazepam at levels an expert found would have impaired his ability to drive.
Perkins, an experienced quad rider, saw clear sticker warnings that he was not to carry passengers, perform stunts or drive under the influence every time he climbed onto his machine.
But he triggered the tragedy by ignoring all of those that Sunday afternoon, the court heard.
Jailing him and banning him from driving for six years, Mr Justice Coulson said: “Despite all of that you invited Lyndsay to try the bike with you on it. In my view that was beyond stupid. It was criminally and tragically reckless.”
Perkins, who has never held a full licence, had been in court for growing cannabis just weeks before the crash.
He had twice offered Lyndsay a crash helmet but she did not want to spoil her hair, the court heard.
Shaun Routledge, defending, said Perkins had tried to help Lyndsay at the crash scene, showed genuine remorse and wanted to apologise to her devastated family.
Mr Routledge told the court: “He cannot get the events of that day out of his mind.
“In that split second there might have been a movement to frighten or impress Lyndsay.
“For that split second the consequences will live with him for the rest of his life. It is an awful tragedy.”
