Colin Morpeth of Totton jailed for 30 months after high-speed crash while overtaking

A driver whose high-speed crash caused life-changing injuries to his children has been jailed.

Colin Morpeth (44) of Rothbury Close, Totton, lost control of a borrowed Ford Fiesta on Exbury Road as he travelled to Holbury with his two sons.

Southampton Crown Court heard the accident on 9th November 2022 happened around 10pm after the trio had visited Exbury social club.

Prosecutor Siobhan Lindsay explained Morpeth, his sons Rhys and Kian, aged 21 and 17 at the time, and other friends had been to the club to play snooker.

The friends left in two vehicles shortly before Morpeth, who “swiftly” caught up with them, the court heard.

As they turned right at the Royal Oak pub at Hilltop, Morpeth, who was the third in the convoy, overtook both other vehicles, driving over the 40mph limit.

Mrs Lindsay said: “It was a risky manoeuvre, even more so that this is a Forest road, which has animals roaming freely on it, and at the point of overtaking he encountered a deer and had to swerve.

“The defendant lost control on a left-hand bend and entered the opposite lane. He attempted to steer back but struck a tree, causing catastrophic damage.”

The court heard a Tesco delivery driver who had passed Morpeth’s car before the crash estimated the defendant’s speed to be around 50mph.

While it had not been possible to ascertain Morpeth’s exact speed, one of the other drivers said in a witness statement he had been travelling at 60mph when he was overtaken.

A forensic crash investigator ruled the bend could be safely negotiated at 59mph. The vehicle’s speedometer was fixed at 53mph when the Ford was recovered, the court heard.

Rhys, who suffered a bleed on the brain, remained unconscious after the crash until his arrival in hospital. He also fractured his elbow and femur.

The court heard he was placed in an induced coma for three weeks and when he came round, could not speak or move the right-hand side of his body.

Mrs Lindsay explained Kian had suffered fractures to his arm and wrist along with a lacerated spleen, and had spent 10 days in hospital.

Morpeth was interviewed on 19th January 2023 and told police his last memory prior to the crash had been standing in the car park of the social club before leaving.

He told them he would have observed the rules of the road as he “knew there were animals around Exbury”.

He could not remember the overtaking or the speed he had been travelling at.

A blood test revealed Morpeth had cannabis in his system. He was also uninsured.

He said he had believed he was insured to drive the car, belonging to his mother, as he thought he was covered by a trade policy.

Mrs Lindsay added: “This was a deliberate decision to ignore the rules of the road, dismissing the safety of others. He was racing and showing off when he overtook the other vehicles.

“His speed was significantly in excess of the limit and road conditions.”

Morpeth also suffered serious injuries, including fractures to his tibia and ankle, which needed five operations.

Defending, Rebecca McKnight said: “There is no dispute that this is a very tragic case and Mr Morpeth will have to live with the consequences for the rest of his life.

He was seriously injured himself by the accident along with two of the people he loves most in the world.

“There is not a day that goes by that he does not think of that day.”

She stressed he “absolutely denies” the suggestion he was racing or driving competitively, and added the crash had affected his mental health, and suffered nightmares.

Morpeth had taken “numerous steps” to get his life back on track, she said, and urged Judge Nicholas Rowland to impose a suspended sentence.

She said: “It would be a travesty for Mr Morpeth to go to prison. It would hurt his sons and undo all the good work he has done to get him to a better place than he was in 2022.”

Morpeth, who lives with his parents, has a “close” relationship with his sons, Ms McKnight added.

She said Morpeth had been volunteering at a wellbeing group, teaching art, and hoped to continue. He was employed full-time as a paint sprayer at a boat building company.

He was “terrified” of driving again and genuinely remorseful. She added: “He will never do anything like this again.”

Morpeth admitted two counts of causing serious injury by dangerous driving at an earlier hearing.

Handing him a 30-month sentence, Judge Rowland said: “What you did was to lose control because of the way you were driving and the speed – that is what caused the accident.

“You overtook both vehicles, with no explanation at all. This was competitive driving for some reason, on a road you knew well.

“Users of the New Forest roads know full well you need to be incredibly careful because of animals in the area. You knew that, but decided to drive in the way you did, with you two sons in the car [and] all three of you suffered life-changing injuries.”

Morpeth was also banned from driving for three years, with an extended period of 15 months.