09-05-2025
Pair who caused crash which killed teenage mum in Baildon jailed
A driver who ignored a teenage mum's pleas to stop during a police chase has been jailed for causing her death by dangerous driving.
Jordan Spalding was behind the wheel of a £600 Vauxhall Vectra, which had been bought earlier that day by Shakeel Ahmed, when he lost control and crashed in Baildon, near Bradford, in January 2023.
The car, which had been travelling at over 60mph, hit a garden wall and flipped over.
Amber Deakin, an 18-year-old who was one of four passengers sitting in the back, suffered a fatal head injury.
Bradford Crown Court heard she had shouted at Spalding during the pursuit: "I've got a kid. Just stop please. I need to get home to my kid.'
Spalding, who only held a provisional licence and was not insured, had to be helped to drive the car by Ahmed, who had been operating the loose gear-stick from the front passenger seat during the pursuit.
Spalding was trapped in the car and had to be cut free, but the court heard that Ahmed fled the scene.
Spalding, 23, of Wharncliffe Crescent, Bradford, pleaded guilty to causing death by dangerous driving and was jailed for nine years and 10 months.
Ahmed, 29, of Moresby Road, Bradford, pleaded guilty to aiding and abetting Spalding's dangerous driving. He was jailed for 11 years and one month.
Both men will have to serve 10-year driving bans after they are released from prison.
The Recorder of Bradford Judge Jonathan Rose said Amber, the mother of a then 18-month-old child, had her life 'stolen' by the defendants' 'irresponsible, dangerous and utterly abhorrent' driving.
He told them: 'There are no words of condolence which I can express which will be adequate to meet the grief and sense of loss the family have experienced since the devastating news of Amber's death was brought to their door.
'Nor adequate to bring them some comfort in the many years ahead when they will only have photographs and memories of a young woman killed by you. Their grief and the consequences of Amber's death will far exceed the time each of you will spend in custody.'
Judge Rose said Spalding ignored Amber's pleas to stop.
'Instead you transformed this from an idiotic and potentially dangerous piece of driving into driving that which would almost inevitably end in an accident, a crash, injury and death,' the judge told Spalding.
Amber's mother Hayley Norton said in a statement that since the incident her life had been filled with "unbearable sorrow".
'I find myself unable to focus on anything, consumed by the pain of losing my daughter,' she said.
'The emptiness I feel is overwhelming and the world no longer seems as bright without her in it.'
Det Con Lindsey Pickles, of the West Yorkshire Police Major Collision Enquiry Team, said: 'This is the stark reality of the consequences of driving dangerously on the roads, her death could have been avoided.
'Whilst Ahmed was not the driver, we welcome his sentence, he encouraged the dangerous driving as seen in the snapchat footage.
'The sentence today will never bring Amber back to her family, I hope it goes some way in providing comfort knowing that justice has been served.'
