Drunk driver, 27, killed girlfriend, 17, by smashing into wall at 74mph in 30mph zone after blazing row with ex
A DRUNK driver killed his 17-year-old girlfriend by smashing into a wall while driving at 74mph in a 30mph zone after having a blazing row with his ex.
Arthur Pinches, 27, was behind the wheel of the car and three times over the legal alcohol limit when he lost control after becoming “consumed with anger”.
Charlie Leigh Burgoyne, 17, died when the gold Ford Mondeo she was in ploughed into a garden wall shortly after midnight on May 23.
Pinches approached a right hand bend too fast and on the wrong side of Tansey Green Road, Pensnett, West Mids., shortly after midnight on May 23.
Rescue teams raced to the crash site but Charlie tragically died at the scene from serious head injuries.
Pinches, of Pensnett, escaped with only minor injuries.
‘CONSUMED WITH ANGER’
Minutes before the fatal crash Pinches had rammed a security gate with his car after having a furious bust up with his former partner over their two children.
Charles Crinion, prosecuting, told the court the row was over Facebook comments about the role Pinches played in the care of their two children.
The 27-year-old confronted his former partner’s brother at the Kingswinford reclamation plant were he worked as a guard, arriving at 11.55pm.
Pinches grabbed the man through the bars of a locked gate, then rammed into the gate with his car.
Just minutes later and still in an uncontrollable fury, he ploughed into the wall with Burgoyne in the car just a mile away, the court was told.
He was breathalysed with a reading of 145 milligrams of alcohol per 100ml of blood – almost three times the legal limit of 50 milligrams.
Charlie was my life; she was beautiful right to her core.
Charlie's mum Becky Burgoyne
Pinches was jailed on Wednesday for five years and banned from driving for six-and-half years.
He pleaded guilty to causing death by dangerous driving when he appeared at Wolverhampton Crown Court in June.
Judge Peter Barrie told Pinches he had “completely taken leave of your senses” adding that he “was blind to the very high speed” he was driving at.
Speaking at the time of her death, Charlie’s mum Becky Burgoyne, said: “Charlie was my life; she was beautiful right to her core.
“She is loved deeply by all of her family and friends. Charlie was a popular girl and there are people out there that truly cared for her.
“Charlie was only 17 and may have been looked upon as a girl but I know that my daughter was heading to become a wonderful lady with a beautiful soul, such a strong character with a strong head on those shoulders.”
Sergeant Dean Caswell, from the Serious Collision Investigation Unit, said: “This is a truly tragic case where a young girl with her whole life ahead of her, has died at the hands of her boyfriend.
“Although he did not intend to kill her, his reckless driving resulted in the horrific collision which ended her life and he will have to live with that for the rest of his life.
“I’m pleased that he pleaded guilty at the earliest opportunity and spared Charlie’s family the ordeal of a trial. Our thoughts remain with them as they continue to come to terms with their loss.”
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Another man killed his teenage girlfriend in a horror crash while also drink driving.
Thomas Baird, 22, was jailed for four-and-half years for killing his girlfriend Demi Paige Grewer, 18, after driving home drunk from a nightclub.
He filmed himself laughing and joking on Snapchat as he walked to court.
And Stuart Moorat and his girlfriend died in a 60mph crash as they drove home from a friend’s wedding reception.
Moorat was two-and-a-half times over the drink-drive limit when he crashed his BMW.
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