TWO teenagers died in Huddersfield when the car they were travelling in hit a tree at more than 50mph.

An inquest heard yesterday that Jade Rice and Daniel Atkinson, both 17, were killed in the crash at Bradley Road, Bradley, on January 29, 2006.

Members of both Jade and Daniel’s families were in court yesterday. They and Coroner Roger Whittaker heard that the teenagers had been travelling in a Toyota Corolla car driven by Shipley man Mohammed Tanwir.

Mr Tanwir was a support worker for Aspirations, which provides accommodation and support for young people leaving local authority care.

Both teenagers had been in the care of social services and were living in Sherwood Avenue in Bradley, run by Aspirations as a ‘half way house’ to help them on their way to living independently.

Mr Tanwir was employed as a ‘sleep in’ worker, which involved him staying at the house to ensure health and safety and to act as a ‘good neighbour’ to the young people who lived there.

Charmaine Lawrence, director of Aspirations, told the hearing that it was not part of Tanwir’s job to take young people out in his car.

“The role states sleep-in worker, and one wouldn’t expect someone to be taking young people out,” she said.

However, both Jade and Daniel had spoken of being taken out in a car by one of the workers at Aspirations.

Jade told her mum, Elaine Noble, that she had been in a car on a previous occasion which had been driven fast.

Daniel’s girlfriend, Laura Carmody, of Almondbury, told the inquest he had also talked about visiting a support worker’s house in Bradford to collect a computer. He said the car had been travelling at 80mph and that he would not go in a car with the driver again.

The inquest heard that the Toyota hit a tree and then a lamp-post in the crash, which happened at about 12.30am.

Jade and Daniel, who both died of multiple injuries, had been trapped in the car, while Mr Tanwir managed to get out of the vehicle. He was seen by witnesses wandering about in the road after the collision.

Bradley Road residents Brian Sanderson, Claire Wood and Jason Petersen said they all heard the sound of a loud car engine on the night of the accident, followed by a thudding noise.

Mr Petersen said the car engine sounded as if it was accelerating down Bradley Road.

“It sounded like he was losing control of the car, with the sound of the tyres squeaking on the road.”

All three residents said the car engine sounded like the vehicle was travelling at more than the 40mph speed limit.

Brothers Christopher and Daniel Boltwood told the inquest they saw a car travelling in the opposite direction veering across the road towards their van.

Christopher Boltwood said he had to swerve to avoid the car and, in his mirrors, saw the car hit the tree.

Both Boltwood brothers, who were first on the scene of the accident, said they had seen Mr Tanwir searching inside his wrecked car for his phone and keys.

Christopher Boltwood said: “There were two people in the car who were dying and he didn’t seem to care. I couldn’t believe he had looked for his keys and phone when they were trapped in the car and left them. I said: ‘What about your mates?’ and he said: ‘They’re not my mates, I don’t even know them’.”

They said they thought the Corolla’s speed had been about 90 or 100mph.

But Richard Lamborne, of the Transport Research Laboratory, told the hearing the speed was probably not that high.

He and his accident investigation team staged a reconstruction of the crash with real cars.

He said: “The impact with the tree was at a speed greater than 50mph, but not by a large amount. I suggest in the region of 55mph or 60mph.”

The inquest heard that police had brought two prosecutions against Mohammed Tanwir – one for death by dangerous driving and another for failing to stop after an accident. The first was dismissed at crown court due to insufficient evidence and he was found not guilty of the second charge after a trial at Huddersfield Magistrates’ Court.

The inquest continues today.