A British courier who was filmed defusing a nitrous oxide balloon before driving his van into a ravine and killing his teenage cousin was jailed for almost eight years on Monday.
Cameron Hughes, 23, was under the influence of laughing gas and using his phone when he “failed to negotiate” a bend on a motorway north of Manchester in July, plunging his Mercedes Sprinter van into a ravine 15ft below, Lancashire Constables said in a press release .
Hughes’ passenger and cousin Bonny Barrow, 15, suffered serious injuries and died a day later, police said.
Video capture of Cameron Hughes inhaling nitrous oxide from a balloon as he drove before the crash that killed his 15-year-old passenger Bonny Barrow on July 7. Lancashire Police / SWNS Bonny Barrow, 15, was killed in the crash. Lancashire Police / SWNS
He was relatively unscathed.
Barrow had hitched a ride with his cousin from Manchester to dinner with his family who had just moved to Great Harwood, according to authorities, who called him “very loving” and “bubbly”.
Hughes pleaded guilty to a charge of causing death by dangerous driving and was sentenced to seven and a half years in prison and banned from driving for a further eight years, officials said.
Hughes was jailed for almost eight years for the fatal crash.Lancashire Police / SWNS
Police released clips of him behind the wheel inhaling a balloon that officials say is filled with nitrous oxide, which causes dizziness, dissociation, confusion, loss of balance, impaired memory and cognition, and weakness in the legs, according to the National Institutes of Health.
The video appears to have been shot from the passenger seat, but it’s unclear whether Barrow recorded it.
Before the harrowing end of the journey, there were “numerous close calls with other vehicles” police said, as Hughes sped off, drove on the shoulder, ended up in a lane and bounced his van off the side of the road at 60 mph.
Aerial photos after the accident and the turn Hughes failed to navigate after inhaling laughing gas. Lancashire Police / SWNS Barrow may have recorded his cousin’s damning evidence before he crashed his van and killed her. Lancashire Police / SWNS
“Cameron had one job that day — to get Bonny home to us safely. But she made dangerous choices that led to her death and cost us the chance to see her fully develop into a beautiful young woman,” her family said in a statement.
“We cherish our memories of him and the joy he brought us during the 15 years he was in our lives. We all miss him so much and will do anything to get him back.”
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Source: thtrangdai.edu.vn/en/
