Tragic early loss of a young life in crash

Halifax-born Jamie Baines died after sustaining “extensive and serious injuries” when the stolen car he was driving mounted the kerb on the A629 Calderdale Way, Elland, crashed through a barrier and fence, and drove down an embankment uprooting trees before coming to a standstill near Huddersfield Road in the early hours of June 13, 2014.

Coroner Oliver Longstaff said Mr Baines, formerly of Greenwood Street, Huddersfield, was almost “50 per cent above the legal limit” of alcohol and a postmortem toxicology report found cannabis and the synthetic stimulant ‘CAT’ in his bloodstream.

The postmortem report said the level of drugs and alcohol present was “likely to have a detrimental impact on motor and cognitive abilities.”

The court heard how a few minutes prior to the crash, a speed camera snapped the BMW travelling at 95 miles per hour - seven minutes later emergency services were at the scene of the accident.

The court heard the two of the passengers, Kieran Baines, 18, and Reece Simpson, 18, both escaped from the rear of the car with minor injuries and Mr Baines and front-seat passenger Liam McLoughin, 24, had to be cut from the wreckage.

Mr Longstaff described Mr Baines’s “recklessness” and said it was a miracle that nobody else had been killed.

He said: “It’s clear that no one other than Jamie was responsible for the way in which the car was driven.

“If anyone else had been killed in this accident, then the verdict would have been death by unlawful killing.”

“Because the only fatality is that of the driver himself, and it is sufficient to record a verdict of a death due to road traffic collision.

“This is the tragically early loss of a young life and it could have been a great deal worse.”