Killer BMW driver who bragged of “beating speed cameras” on video jailed for eight years

A 25-year-old BMW driver who boasted of “beating speed cameras” on video just two months before a fatal crash in north Derbyshire has been jailed.

Daniel Young was found to have been travelling at nearly three times the speed limit when he tried to overtake a line of cars on a blind bend on the A6135 in Renishaw on 7 October 2020.

Travelling in the opposite direction were close friends Caroline Ball and Margaret Collier who had left their homes in Sheffield at 5am.

Young, meanwhile, had finished his shift at the Amazon warehouse in Barlborough at 5.30am and began the same journey that he had made for the three months while working at the factory.

Witnesses describe seeing Young’s 5 Series BMW overtaking lorries and cars at around 80mph in a 30mph limit.

Officers were also able to calculate from timings of cameras on the route that Young reached speeds in excess of 130mph as he raced along the road.

With Young making the journey on a regular basis he was aware of the tight S bend that was approaching as he decided to overtake a line of cars at 90mph.

Caroline Ball, who was driving her Vauxhall Corsa with Mrs Collier in the passenger seat, had no time to react as they were faced with Young’s BMW.

The collision between the two cars was so violent that it forced the Vauxhall back 30 metres into a hedge and killed both women instantly.

Young, who was left with just a minor injury to his hand, was found to be double the legal limit for cannabis.

And officers found further evidence of his complete disregard for the safety of other road users on his mobile phone.

Just two months before Young had filmed himself driving in the same car, on the same stretch of road, titling the video “How to beat the speed cameras”.

The footage showed him driving on the wrong side of the road, just after the scene of the fatal collision, at speeds of more than 80mph in order not to be caught by the cameras.

After admitting two counts of causing death by dangerous driving he was jailed for eight years at Derby Crown Court today (15 October).

He was also handed a ten-year driving ban that will begin after his sentence has been served.

DC Scott Cooper, from Derbyshire Constabulary’s Collision Investigation Unit, said: “The complete disregard that Daniel Young showed that morning is utterly staggering.

“But this was no one off event. The evidence found on his own phone shows that he would use the public roads as his own personal racetrack – filming himself laughing at speeds that would eventually rob two families of two beloved women.

“The sentence handed down to Young will never bring back Caroline and Margaret, but I hope that it brings some closure to their families, and shows that driving in the same way as Young is simply unacceptable.”