Doctors assess death crash driver

The three girls were in the back seat of a Fiesta when it crashed

A 27-year-old driver who suffered brain injuries in a crash which killed his three teenage passengers has been sent to a mental hospital for assessments.

James Houston crashed in Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, during a street race, killing Gemma Cost, 15, and Ursula Alokolaro and Natalie Donlan, both 16.

The driver of the other car, Adam Anguige, was jailed for 10 years in May for causing death by dangerous driving.

Doctors have been given three months to assess Houston before he is sentenced.

Houston, from Huddersfield, was also charged with causing death by dangerous driving, but was deemed not fit to stand trial because he lacked the mental capacity after being injured in the crash.

A jury found that he had committed the act of driving in a dangerous manner.

'Fast and aggressive'

On Friday at Bradford Crown Court, Judge Christopher Prince made an interim hospital order in Houston's case.

He said this meant doctors at a unit at St Luke's Hospital, in Huddersfield, would have 12 weeks to make an assessment of the defendant before he was brought back to court for sentencing.

Judge Prince told the court the hospital order was not intended as a punishment.

He said he wanted to find the right treatment for Houston, but also needed to make sure there was "no repeat of that sort of dangerous, aggressive, criminal driving".

Judge Prince went on: "It's not just a simple case of saying you've just received your punishment from what happened that night."

Anguige, of White Lee Road, Batley, West Yorkshire, was sentenced by the same judge in May.

The judge condemned his "fast, dangerous, aggressive and competitive driving" which led to the deaths of the girls on 1 September, 2006.

He heard how Houston lost control of a Fiesta and crashed into a lorry while overtaking Anguige in Wakefield Road, Huddersfield.