19-year-old racer who mowed down and killed his mother, sentenced to three years and eight months in prison

A young racer who drove at 150 km/h in a 40-mph zone has been jailed for mowing down and killing a 23-year-old mother.

Lewis Clark “bragged” about driving a friend’s Ford Fiesta without a license and at more than twice the top speed.

When the 19-year-old tried to overtake a friend’s motorcycle at “excessive” speed on a dual carriageway, he lost control and went off the road.

The car hit 23-year-old Courtney White from behind while she was walking down the sidewalk listening to music on the evening of December 12, 2021.

Lewis Clark “bragged” about driving a friend’s Ford Fiesta without a license and at more than twice the top speed

The car hit 23-year-old Courtney White from behind while she was walking down the sidewalk listening to music in December 2021

Clark exited the vehicle and fled the scene with his friends, leaving Miss White to “die alone.”

The young mother, whose three-year-old daughter Evie was at home, died at the scene from head and neck injuries.

Clark, now 20, pleaded guilty to causing death by dangerous driving at Bournemouth Crown Court.

He was imprisoned for three years and eight months.

Police tracked down the vehicle’s young owner, a Mr Berry. He and Clark claimed the Fiesta was stolen from them before the collision at Knifepoint.

Clark turned himself in days later and admitted to running over Miss White on the A3049 in Poole, Dorset.

Afterwards, Miss White’s mother Jasmine, who is now raising her granddaughter Evie, now 4, said: “I’m not happy with the verdict, it should have been longer. The owner of the car should have gotten something too.

“Justice was not served on Courtney.”

In a victim’s statement read in court, Ms White added: “They ran away and left her to die alone. She was only 23. We will never see her get married and she will never see her daughter’s first day of school.

“Her daughter is still crying for her mom. A beautiful young woman has been taken from us and it is your fault.’

Clark exited the vehicle and fled the scene with his friends, leaving Miss White to “die alone.”

After the funeral, Courtney’s father Joseph and her grandfather laid flowers at the site of the collision that claimed her life

Miss White’s father, Joseph White, said: ‘How can anyone leave a man and run away? I wouldn’t leave any animal behind, let alone a human being.”

The court heard the accident happened when Clark met friends at a gas station on his motorcycle.

He and Mr. Berry swapped vehicles, even though Clark had failed his driving theory test and hadn’t driven a car in more than a year.

Prosecutor Stuart Ellacott said: “The defendant was 19 years old and held a provisional license.

“There were no license plates and he was uninsured in that vehicle. He is seen on CCTV driving out into the street and did not have his lights on at the time.’

Mr Ellacott said witnesses saw the Fiesta traveling on the A3049 at around 95mph.

The car then went to a motorcycle being driven by one of Clark’s friends but lost control.

Miss White was described by Judge Robert Pawson as “on the verge of adulthood”.

Mr Ellacott said: “He then tried to correct that by steering to the left. The vehicle then swerved across the road towards the curb. After hitting the curb it goes onto the sidewalk and unfortunately that’s where Miss White was and she got hit.

“The defendant left the crime scene. The police were informed and despite the best efforts of paramedics, she was pronounced dead at the scene.

“It’s perhaps a blessing that she was so deeply unconscious. The police were able to locate Mr Berry’s address fairly quickly.

‘While he was there, he and the accused returned. There it was claimed that the vehicle had been stolen with a knife point.

“It was later embellished that they followed the vehicle to recover it. He (Clark) claimed he didn’t see the victim.’

Days after the incident, Mr Ellacott explained, Clark turned himself in to police because he “wanted to tell the truth”.

In the interview, he admitted to “fucking around” before the crash. He admitted he was in a hurry to take on his friends

Tim Bradbury, defending himself, said the defendant “clearly” accepted responsibility for Miss White’s death and made “no apologies for his conduct”.

He said: “He would do anything to turn back the clock but of course he can’t. He has to face the consequences of his decisions.”

Mr Bradbury described him as “a young, stupid and immature young man trying to impress friends by being ahead of them in the street”.

At Clark’s incarceration, Judge Robert Pawson said, “You were speeding. You were, in your own words, fucking around. They undertook a motorcyclist too close.

“You hit Courtney White from behind, who was 23 and on the verge of adulthood.

“She was facing the opposite direction when her life was taken immediately.

“The result of your behavior and stupidity is that the pain for the White family continues to be unbearable.

“Your mother has a nightmare every day.

“The weight of your sentence will never come close to what the White family will have to bear, which will in fact be a life sentence.”