A motorist whose careless driving caused his girlfriend’s death in a horror crash near Keswick during a winter storm has been jailed.
Lana Maddison, 19, was a backseat passenger when her 21-year-old boyfriend Joe Rowland careered off the road in a Ford Fiesta.
She was rushed to hospital in a critical condition but tragically died five days later.
Her heartbroken mother Lisa said Lana’s death had ‘shattered’ the lives of her family.
Rowland today wept as he was jailed for 10 months and banned from driving for three years.
He pleaded guilty to causing death by careless driving at Carlisle Crown Court.
Lana suffered an ‘unsurvivable’ traumatic head injury and she died on December 3 at Newcastle’s Royal Victoria Infirmary after her life-support was withdrawn
The Fiesta crashed on the A591 near Keswick, Cumbria, on November 28, 2021, as Britain was battered by Storm Arwen.
Yellow weather warnings for snow and ice were in place in much of northern England at the time of the crash amid strong winds and heavy rainfall.
Temperatures plummeted to below freezing as large swathes of the north was covered in up to eight inches of snow.
The court heard Rowland had picked up Lana from her home in Silloth and collected another friend from Torpenhow before setting off to see more friends in Keswick.
Prosecutor Andrew Evans said the group had enjoyed a Chinese meal and then set off towards home at 8.15pm.
By this time, Storm Arwen had set in, bringing snow, ice and flooding.
Rowland lost control of his Ford Fiesta as he tried to negotiate a right-hand bend and his car left the road ‘at speed’ and crashed into a tree.
Lana suffered an ‘unsurvivable’ traumatic head injury and she died on December 3 at Newcastle’s Royal Victoria Infirmary after her life-support was withdrawn.
More follows.
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