Benwell boy racer who left 15-year-old pal dying in crashed car named and shamed as he's locked up
by Rob Kennedy · ChronicleLiveA boy racer who left his 15-year-old friend dying in a crashed car while banned from the roads has been locked up.
Billy Conroy already had serious driving offences on his record, including a police chase at more than 100mph when he was just 15, when he lost control of a powerful Mazda 6 and killed back seat passenger Conner Loder. Conroy, 16 at the time, then ran off, leaving his pal fatally injured and another youth badly hurt.
Even after causing Connor's death, Conroy, of Ellesmere Road, Benwell, Newcastle, who can now be named after a judge granted ChronicleLive's application to lift reporting restrictions banning his identification due to his age, was spotted riding a motorbike despite his driving disqualification.
As Conroy, now 17, was sentenced to youth detention at Newcastle Crown Court, Conner's devastated mum revealed her heartbreak at the loss of her beloved son. Georgina Taylor said in a victim impact statement: "My life will always be sad and lonely because I'm missing a big part of me. He was my world, I loved him so much.
"Conner's younger brother, who's five, cries for Conner. How do you tell a five-year-old he is not coming back? Losing Conner has broken my family.
"Conner was my life. I was supposed to protect him and watch him grow. I feel like I've let him down. It only took a few hours and he was gone."
Georgina added that Conner was "brought up right" and knew better than to get in a car in the circumstances in which he died and said he "made a mistake and lost his life". She said: "They all ran and left him there lifeless. Who does that to anyone, especially if they considered him a friend.
"They all ran away and thought of themselves. It kills me every day to know he had no one there with him and how scared he would be.
"No matter what sentence you give him it will not be enough. I have to live with this for the rest of my life."
It was in the early hours of June 10 that Conner was a rear seat passenger in the Mazda 6 which Conroy had bought for £400 two days earlier and which contained five boys at the time. In the build up to the collision, the car had been seen by police on Hillhead Road, Newcastle, around 1am.
An officer's attention was drawn to the car because it had no registration plate on the front so he turned his car around and began to follow it. Two minutes later Conroy lost control on Stamfordham Road, with the car fishtailing and colliding with the post of large traffic sign.
Conroy and two youths ran off, leaving Conner and an injured youth, who suffered a broken leg and was on the ground screaming in agony. Conner, who was found slumped unconscious in the car still wearing his seat belt, died at the scene from catastrophic injuries to his chest, lungs and heart.
In the lead up to the crash, witnesses saw the Mazda undertake a car and go through a red light in Chapel House, with one describing the manner of driving as "ridiculous". The Mazda was bearing recently stolen number plates and had earlier made off from a fuel station without anyone paying for petrol.
Clips recorded in the car earlier that night show the car being driven at excessive speed with the boys gesturing out of the vehicle and music playing loudly. The prosecution say from the time Conner got into the car to the point of the collision, Conroy was driving, although others may have been driving earlier.
An investigation showed the crash happened on the 30mph stretch at 1.13am at a time the car was being driven in sport mode, which revs the engine higher between gear changes. Estimates from CCTV suggest the car was travelling at around 50mph shortly before Conroy lost control as he went around a bend.
The court heard that although the police car was following, it was a significant distance behind and did not have blue lights on and it was "not a pursuit in the normal sense of the word".
Conroy was later arrested in Benwell after being found hiding in a cupboard. He was then released on bail but arrested again after he was seen riding a motorbike while disqualified on June 22. He has admitted that and is awaiting sentence in the youth court.
The court heard Conroy has ten previous convictions, the earliest being when he was just 12 years old. In August last year he was sentenced for dangerous driving, aggravated vehicle taking and driving with no licence or insurance. In that offence he was driving a Mercedes and sparked a police pursuit that took him from Newburn to Hexham, during which he drove at speeds between 100mph and 140mph on the A69.
During the chase, passengers threw items from the car to deter police and the car was eventually found abandoned in Hexham. He got a detention and training order for those offences.
In May this year he was also sentenced for aggravated vehicle taking from May last year, which pre-dated the Mercedes offence. In that offence he was a passenger in a stolen car which crashed after a police pursuit and he got a conditional discharge.
For the latest offences, he pleaded guilty to causing death by dangerous driving, causing serious injury by dangerous driving, driving while disqualified and having no insurance. Judge Tim Gittins said that because he is a youth the starting point for his sentence had to be half what it would have been for an adult.
He was locked up for five-and-a-half years, of which he must serve two-thirds, with an extended licence period of a further three years. He will also be banned from driving for eight years and eight months.
Judge Gittins said Conroy had been "showing off" and speeding in the lead up to the fatal collision and told him: "You were an accident waiting to happen." He said that while Conroy may have panicked and not appreciated the gravity of the situation when he fled, it was a "cowardly" thing to do.
Judge Gittins said Conroy poses a significant risk of causing serious harm to the public and added: "The bravado and arrogance of youths like you, not thinking of the life-ending and life-changing consequences of their actions, is all too obvious in a case like this. I wish I could get every boy racer who thinks it's big and cool to behave as you did to witness this hearing and to be reminded of the potential of wrecking families every time they get behind the wheel and drive in the fashion you did.
Penny Hall, defending, said Conroy felt at risk in the local area and felt safer in a car or on a bike than on foot. She added: "He accepts he drove too fast on this occasion and went through a red light while driving away having seen the police vehicle. It was a short pursuit which obviously ended tragically.
"He is devastated at what happened. He is struggling to come to terms with the fact he caused the death of a friend. He is clearly remorseful and he knows the immeasurable suffering he has caused to Conner's family as a result of his actions
"He talks about the life sentence he faces because of the fact he has to live with himself knowing what he has done. He knows saying sorry doesn't do anything to rectify what he has done but he does apologise for his actions."
The court heard Conroy had a difficult childhood and has PTSD, learning difficulties, depression and anxiety.
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