18-month sentence for man after crash which left Pickering woman requiring amputation

Yahoo

2 days ago

A 34-year-old man from North Yorkshire has been sent to prison for dangerous driving after a crash which caused severe, life-changing injuries to a 55-year-old woman from Pickering.
North Yorkshire Police said Milosz Danisz Malkowski from Cayton near Scarborough, was sentenced at York Crown Court on Friday, July 25, to 18 months in prison and banned from driving for two years and nine months.
On April 17, 2024, he caused a head-on collision on the A170 near Thornton le Dale with Sharon Odell's vehicle after an attempted overtake of a car and a coach travelling in his own lane, despite her Volkswagen vehicle being visible while travelling in the opposite direction, police said.
A force spokesperson said: "Mrs Odell was airlifted to hospital in a critical condition where she remained in a coma for two and a half weeks.
"Her injuries were so severe that she underwent multiple operations, including the amputation of one of her legs.
"A detailed investigation was conducted by officers who established that the lead-up to the collision was captured on the dashcam in Malkowski's vehicle."
Police said forensic collision work was used to reconstruct the crash to establish to positions of the vehicles at the point it happened which showed Mrs Odell had done her best to avoid it.
A force spokesperson said Malkowski, who also suffered serious injury, pleaded guilty at the earliest opportunity.
In a victim personal statement read at the sentencing hearing, Mrs Odell said: "I can't begin to comprehend how everyone who is close to me felt whilst I was in a coma.
'All of this has not only affected me, but it has also had a big impact on everyone around me, my immediate family, work colleagues and the children I work with at school.
'I am not able to do the things I enjoy most, like country walks with my family and walk my dog.
"I also feel that I can't do my job to my full ability, like playing games like football and dodgeball with the children I work with.'
Traffic constable Isaac Carter, of North Yorkshire Police's roads policing group, who led the investigation, said: 'Nothing will ever make up for the dreadful, life-changing injuries Mrs Odell suffered that day and the difficulties it continues to have on her day-to-day life.
'I just hope the outcome at court provides some measure of comfort to her and her family, knowing that the person responsible for the trauma has admitted his guilt and been sent to prison.
'As for Malkowski and other dangerous drivers on our roads, this case highlights the unnecessary nature of the overtake and how decision making in those few seconds can have a life-long impact on the victim and their loved-ones.'