An expectant mother lost her unborn baby after a drink driver went through a red light ploughing into the car in which she was passenger.

Mark Smith was already on licence from a previous life sentence when he set off from a Huddersfield pub where he had been drinking following a wake on March 17 last year.

Leeds Crown Court heard he had only driven the Ford Focus hatchback 300 yards from the Spinks Nest in Blacker Road and so erratically his passengers had not managed to get their seat belts on, when the collision occurred.

The horror crash at St John's Road and Blacker Road crossroads in Birkby
The horror crash at St John's Road and Blacker Road crossroads in Birkby

He struck the side of a Vauxhall Corsa as it crossed ahead of him causing it to spin into a barrier. Both vehicles were written off and eight people needed treatment, some for serious injuries.

Dorigen Exley, 23, who was 33 weeks pregnant was the Corsa’s front seat passenger and had her two young children aged one and six in the back of the car driven by a friend.

Bashir Ahmed prosecuting said Miss Exley was trapped in the vehicle and had to be cut free. Her injuries included a broken hip, a lacerated spleen and internal bleeding causing the death of her unborn child.

She was so badly injured she should could not have a cesarean and had the additional trauma of having to give birth knowing her baby son was already dead. She was in hospital several weeks and is still receiving treatment a year later.

Both her children and the driver of the Corsa received treatment for cuts or lacerations while Smith’s three passengers were also injured. His front seat passenger Gaynor Ledger had fractures in her back, a broken left foot and dislocated elbow.

Back seat passengers Darrel Spink had six stitches to a cut on his head along with a wound on his leg and bruising and Steven Breslin had cuts to his leg.

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Mr Ahmed said at the time Smith, who gave a breath test of 58 microgrammes in 100 milliltres, the limit being 35, claimed to police that Mr Breslin was the driver and Mr Breslin and Mr Spink spent more than 10 hours in police custody being questioned over the incident as a result.

Smith, who had never held a driving licence, continued with that false claim until April 17 when he sent a text to Gaynor Ledger’s mother admitting responsibility but then went on the run for nine months.

When he was eventually caught he was recalled to prison on his licence, having receiving a life sentence in 2004 on robbery and firearm charges.

Keith Allen representing Smith, who refused to attend court from prison, said he had expressed remorse for the unintended consequences of his actions that day.

Smith, 36, admitted three charges of causing serious injury by dangerous driving and one of doing acts intending to pervert the course of justice. He was jailed for a total of four years six months and disqualified from driving for seven years three months.

Judge Rodney Jameson QC ordered his sentencing remarks to go before the Parole Board who would ultimately decide when or if he is released. He said he had imposed sentences as long as he could since by law he could not take into account the death of the unborn child.

He said Smith, should never have been driving, must have known he was over the limit and had ignored a warning from one of his passengers about the red light with catastrophic consequences.