Jaguar crash death couple guilty

The couple's car hit two people who had broken down on the A1

A woman and her partner have been found guilty of causing death by dangerous driving after their Jaguar smashed into a young couple at 113mph.

Driver Mary Butres, 47, of Stamford, and John Nichols, 57, from Carlby, both in Lincolnshire, had denied the charges at Nottingham Crown Court.

Mark Crompton, 20, and Jodie Brown, 19, of Swinstead, Lincolnshire, were killed on the A1 near Grantham last year.

They were near their broken down car when Butres lost control of the Jaguar.

Butres and Nichols were remanded into custody for sentencing on 21 November.

Recorder Greg Dickinson QC said: "A lengthy custodial sentence is absolutely inevitable."

Previous convictions

The business partners, who also had a personal relationship, had been drinking at Nottingham Racecourse before the crash.

Nichols had decided not to drive home because he was over the alcohol limit so let Butres drive his car, even though she had been drinking.

The court heard the Jaguar hit the broken down Ford Fiesta before ploughing into Mr Crompton, Ms Brown and her brother Nick Brown, while they were walking away from their car to phone for help.

The impact was so powerful all three were hurled onto the opposite carriageway of the road at Great Ponton.

Mark Crompton and Jodie Brown were phoning for help when they were hit

Butres, a boss at a packaging firm, was found to be one-and-a-half times over the legal alcohol limit and had two previous convictions for speeding, the court heard.

The defendants arrived each day at court with their own private security guards.

Nick Brown, 36, who survived the crash with two broken legs, four broken ribs, a broken hand and a broken shoulder, said he was pleased with the verdicts.

He said: "I'm over the moon, I'm pleased to see them go down. I was very confident that they would be found guilty.

"There's never going to be a long enough sentence because we have lost Jodie.

"I just feel for [Butres'] two children and all the workers that they employ because it's not fair on them, like it is not fair on us, that this has happened for one rush of madness."

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The Jaguar hit two people whose car had broken down on the A1