Ashfield boy racer jailed after smashing into teenage onlooker when he lost control
An Ashfield boy racer who lost control while executing a dangerous manoeuvre at an illegal car meet and seriously injured a teenage onlooker has been locked up.
Two other BMW drivers had “successfully" completed controlled drifts around a roundabout on the A608 Mansfield Road, Annesley, when Harrison Cudworth span out of control on January 14 2023.
Jonathan Dunne, prosecuting, said the 18-year-old’s car went onto the grass verge and struck three people before ending up in some trees 70-100 yards away.
Two men young men sustained “relatively minor soft tissue damage” but their female friend was knocked into a thorn hedge and her pelvis was fractured in two places.
“His driving licence was recovered from the scene,” said Mr Dunne. “To his credit he identified himself and told police, “It is my fault. I was showing off.”
Cudworth’s victim needed blood transfusions for internal bleeding and was bed bound for several months. Eleven months later she still found it difficult to sleep and had nightmares of the car coming towards her.
Nottingham Crown Court heard her A-level studies suffered as a result and she decided against going to university.
Almas Ben-Aribia, mitigating, said: “This was an illegal car meet. No one should have been there and everyone who did took a significant risk. He accepts his wrong doing and is sorry for all the pain he has caused.”
She said Cudworth, who is now 19, is of previous good character and “genuinely remorseful.”
"He took a risk without forethought of the consequences,” she said. “He knows his actions were foolish and intends never to involve himself in something like this again.”
Describing him as “kind and hard working” but immature, Ms Ben-Aribia said he lost his job as a courier and now works in a factory.
Cudworth, of Ash Grove, Sutton, admitted causing serious injury by dangerous driving on January 23.
"Everybody in life makes thousands of choices everyday," Judge Steven Coupland told him on Tuesday. "This is a very good example of someone making a very bad decision.
"Even as an immature 18-year-old you must have appreciated what you were doing was dangerous."
He sentenced Cudworth to 26 months in prison. He will serve half in custody and he was banned from driving for 44 months.