'Fast as f***' killer driver gets six years

A SPEEDING driver who killed his friend by smashing a high-powered sports car into a tree had earlier boasted: “It’s as fast as f***.”

Stephen Cape (25), from North Anston, had only bought the Honda Integra Type R five days previously and was “showing off” before it crashed after catapulting off a bend.

He survived after being thrown into the road when his seat belt was cut by flying metal but his passenger, 22-year-old Mark Bingley, died instantly.

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A witness Cape passed moments before the smash said that it was going “like a rocket.”

Cape, who had a speeding conviction for driving at 95mph, was jailed for six years and banned for seven at Sheffield Crown Court after being convicted of causing death by dangerous driving.

Judge Roger Keen told him: “This was a persistent and deliberate course of bad driving at grossly excessive speed.”

He said that Cape, who had an “interest in speed” was solely responsible for losing control, adding: “You knew your driving contained a substantial risk of danger.”

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Cape told the court that he had wanted an Integra since he was eight years old.

The specially-imported sports coupe had a 1.8 litre VTEC race-tuned engine and a larger than normal exhaust to improve performance.

He texted a friend to say “it goes like stink” and the day before collecting it texted another friend: “It’s mint. Can’t wait for tomorrow. This is as fast as f**k.”

Cape had picked up Mr Bingley just a few minutes before the smash and was speeding for several miles. The victim suffered serious head and internal injuries in the accident just before midnight on a quiet country road.

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Experts calculated that the sports car was travelling at a minimum of 65mph when it failed to negotiate a sweeping left hand bend at Lamb Lane, Firbeck, in April last year.

Cape admitted causing death by careless driving but was found guilty after a trial on the more serious charge.

Police accident investigator Jarrod Barton said that he believed the car lifted off after the driver over-steered on the bend.

No tyre marks were left at the scene so it was difficult to estimate the speed of the Honda at impact.

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Although the retrieved speedometer indicated 65mph, he thought that it was an under-estimation of the car’s actual speed.

Motorist Kathleen Walker was overtaken by the Honda minutes before the crash and thought it was speeding at 100 mph.

She was travelling at 40 mph when she suddenly noticed lights in her mirror. “It was like a rocket flying down the road,” she said.

The court heard that Cape had been given a fixed penalty ticket for speeding at 95mph on the M1 motorway in August, 2008, in a hired Vauxhall Astra.

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The jury was told that he could remember nothing of the events surrounding the accident after suffering a traumatic brain injury, the loss of two toes and a fractured ankle and collarbone.

He could recall driving to Mr Bingley’s to show him the car, which he bought to celebrate qualifying as an electrician, but after that he could remember nothing until waking up in hospital three or four days later.

Cape, of Nursery Road, has not driven since the crash.

When asked why by his barrister, Mr Paul O’Shea, he replied: “Because I didn’t want to.”

Independent accident investigator Peter Deeley, called by the defence, said that he did not know with certainty why the car had failed to take the bend and was concerned that potholes in the road “may have been a contributory factor.”

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But the judge said that he was totally satisfied the crash was down to Cape “showing off” to Mr Bingley, who worked for B&Q.

The court heard that the victim’s father Terence Bingley, who brought up his son single-handedly, was devastated at his loss.

 

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