Driver in court after woman died following high-speed race

Syed Hassan was caught on a lorry’s dashcam reaching speeds in excess of 110mph in his VW Golf as he raced towards Hartlepool on the A689.

The 26-year-old’s involvement in the race was short-lived and over before the point of crash that fatally injured Margaret Murray in March 2021, Teesside Crown Court heard.

Last month, the court heard how Kieran Clement’s Audi smashed into the rear of the car the 75-year-old was travelling in with her husband, David, as they headed to the beach to celebrate her birthday as Covid restrictions were lifted.

Read more: Two people in court in connection with the death of County Durham toddler

The pensioner suffered a severe degree of ‘blunt force trauma’ when Clement collided with the rear of Mr Murray’s Nissan.

Margaret Murray

Ian West, prosecuting, said: “The three vehicles in question appeared to be racing with each other, certainly they were passing each other and passing other vehicles in a different order.”

Hassan, of Blackhills Road, Horden, pleaded guilty to dangerous driving for his role during the high-speed race.

Eye witnesses said the other two motorists, Clement and Keaton Cox, had been racing each other for a number of miles in the build-up the fatal collision and were branded as ‘driving like idiots’.

Christopher Knox, mitigating, said his client was only involved in the dangerous driving for a short period of time and he was some distance behind when the fatal collision occurred.

Judge Howard Crowson accepted that the defendant’s involvement was short-lived and sentenced Hassan to nine-months in prison suspended for 12-months.

He said: “Your dangerous driving did not last as long as the other defendants.”

Hassan was banned from driving for 12 months and ordered to carry out 50 hours of unpaid work.

The much-loved grandmother, from Easington in County Durham, died following the collision involving a number of vehicles on the A689 near to Greatham, outside Hartlepool, at around 12.45pm on March 30, 2021.

In a victim impact statement read to the court last month, Mrs Murray’s son wrote: “We had plans that when Covid restrictions relaxed, we would all get together and celebrate birthdays. Needless to say, we didn’t get a chance to do this. It is heart-breaking.

“The matriarch and backbone of our family has been taken away from us. We were only able to have a maximum of 30 people in the church. Friends and family chose to line the streets. We were unable to hold a wake afterwards.”

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Clement, of Winterburn Place, Newton Aycliffe, had admitted causing the death of Mrs Murray by driving an Audi dangerously.

Cox pleaded guilty to driving a Black VW Golf dangerously on the same road.

Clement was jailed for two years and six months and banned from driving for three years and three months.

Kieran Clement (Image: Cleveland Police)

While Cox, of The Barracks, Bolckow Street East, Eston, near Middlesborugh, avoided an immediate custodial sentence of 14-months as the judge opted to suspend it for 18-months.

He was banned from driving for two years, ordered to attend 20 rehabilitation activity requirement days and perform 200 hours of unpaid work.