Doncaster man '˜fled' after car crashed in fireball, court told

James Maughan, aged 21, denies being the driver of a black Renault Megane which ploughed into a property in Poppyfields Way, Branton on August 25 last year.

The crash resulted in the deaths of passengers 26-year-old Liam Aldred and 27-year-old Dean McIntyre, and the serious injury of Bradley Stevenson, aged 21.

A 15-year-old male, who was also in the car at the time of the crash also sustained minor injuries in the collision.

At the opening of Maughan’s trial yesterday, Sheffield Crown Court was told the Renault Megane was speeding along Doncaster Road – a 30mph zone – at speeds in excess of 70mph.

The driver’s side of the car hit a kerb, causing the rear wheel to come off.

The car then careered off Doncaster Road at the corner of Poppyfields Way at around 1.15pm.

Prosecutor Michael Slater told the court: “The driver should still have been able to steer it through the front wheels, which were intact. It then drove over the central reservation and demolished two bollards.

“The car then dangerously veered into a small garden. It is there that the car ended up, on its roof and engulfed in flames.”

Following this, the court heard that Maughan, and the 15-year-old occupant made their way out of the car, but Mr Aldred and Mr McIntyre were unable to get out of the car and died as a result. After the collision occurred Mr Slater said the defendant ‘fled the scene’ with the 15-year-old occupant in tow. The defendant had sustained ‘bad burns’ in the collision.

The pair then approached a Network Rail van near to Costcutter in Doncaster Road, and told the driver they had been ‘beaten up by some lads who doused them in petrol’ .

The court heard how Maughan ‘did all the talking’ during the exchange and asked the van driver to take them to his mother’s house, where he said they could be treated for their injuries because she was a nurse.

The van driver insisted on taking the pair to hospital instead, at which point they fled. Nine hours later, Maughan was admitted into Morriston Hospital, Swansea, Wales, under the false name of Curtis O’Brian.

Maughan is alleged to have told medics he sustained his burns during a family barbecue.

Mr Slater said: “Why flee to Swansea, why book in under a false name and tell them some cock and bull story about how the injuries had been caused if he was not driving?”

Maughan was arrested at the hospital by police officers on August 27. After being deemed well enough to travel, he was then transferred to Northern General Hospital, Sheffield, on September 7.

He denies two counts of causing death by dangerous driving and one count of causing serious injury by dangerous driving.

The trial continues.