Chilling moment drug driver, 24, inhaled laughing gas before ‘wiping out’ life of innocent girl, 15, in horror crash
AN innocent teen filmed a drug driver inhaling laughing gas just moments before she was killed in a horror crash.
Bonney-Rae Barrow, 15, captured her tragic last moments as the van she was a passenger in left the road, smashed through a metal barrier and plunged five meters into a ravine.
But, the teenager also caught the moment the driver, a pal of hers, inhaled nitrous oxide from a balloon on that horror evening in July.
Cameron Hughes, 24, has now been locked up over the smash that “wiped out” young Bonney-Rae.
Hughes had been driving the teen from Manchester to see relatives for dinner in Lancashire.
And Bonney-Rae snapped the moments her 24-year-old family friend paid very little attention to the road as he drove her to Great Harwood.
On top of sucking laughing gas from a yellow balloon, Hughes can be seen throwing his hands around, dancing to music.
He is also on his phone while driving – not watching the road – with just one hand on the wheel.
Police say during his and Bonney-Rae’s 35-minute drive, they received multiple calls about the van’s manner of driving.
He was said to have been zooming along the hard shoulder, straddling between lanes and, at one point, his van bounced off a kerb at the edge of the carriageway while being driven at more than 60mph.
Tragically, Bonney-Rae also caught the moment Hughes failed to make a left-hand bend on the slip road of the A56 at Huncoat.
His van then ploughs through the metal barrier and dives down to the ravine below.
Bonney was thrown towards the windscreen while Hughes was tossed from the car.
But the 24-year-old suffered just minor injuries and Bonney-Rae died in hospital the following day.
Neither had been wearing seatbelts.
Hughes admitted to death by dangerous driving and yesterday was sentenced to seven-and-a-half years in prison.
Bonney was a much-loved bubbly teenager whose life has been cruelly taken away.
Sergeant Laura Kendall
He was also banned from driving for eight years.
Manchester Evening News reported Judge Heather Lloyd told Hughes: “This was quite a shocking piece of driving and a young 15-year-old life has been needlessly wiped out.
“It is a miracle that no other person was wiped out, including yourself. This was a tragedy waiting to happen.”
Following the sentencing, Sergeant Laura Kendall, from Lancashire Police’s Serious Collision Investigation Unit, said: “Bonney was a much-loved bubbly teenager whose life has been cruelly taken away.
“My heart goes out to her family and friends who have been so affected by her tragic loss.
“Cameron Hughes is entirely responsible for what happened that day in July. He chose to take nitrous oxide while driving, to use his mobile phone at the wheel and to drive dangerously.
“These avoidable actions led to the devastating collision that caused the death of Bonney.”
At the time, the teen’s devastated family took to social media, writing: “I’ve never been so heartbroken but you’ll never leave my heart Bonney Rae, I love you all the world and will forever.”
