Fatal crash driver who sped at 70mph jailed

A driver who travelled at around 70mph in a 30mph zone shortly before a crash which killed his passenger has been jailed.

Nicolae Subtirel's silver Vauxhall Zafira collided with a blue Honda CR-V on the A58 Wetherby Road in Leeds on 17 October 2022.

Petru Serban, 35, who was in the Zafira with Subtirel, was taken to hospital but died a short time later, while another passenger in the car sustained several broken bones.

Subtirel, who previously pleaded guilty to causing death by dangerous driving and another count of causing serious injury by dangerous driving, was sentenced to six years and nine months in prison at Leeds Crown Court on Monday.

West Yorkshire Police said that 27-year-old Subtirel had been driving at "excessive speed" before and at the point of the collision and that the driver of the Honda had also needed hospital treatment.

Det Con Chris Todhunter said: "In addition to the prison sentence he will now serve, Subritel must live with the knowledge that his actions resulted in the death of his friend and work colleague.

"Multiple families have been devastated by his choice to speed that morning."

Subtirel, of Edgware Drive in Leeds, was also banned from driving for nine and a half years.

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