Drivers who killed mother and young daughter as they raced are jailed

Two strangers who killed a mother and her four-year-old daughter as they raced their high-performance cars along a city centre road have been jailed for 16 and 12 years respectively.

Justyna Hulboj, 27, and Lena Czepczor were walking to the girl's nursery in Leeds when they were hit by a white Audi TT on the A61 Scott Hall Road on 16 January 2023.

The driver of the Audi, Hardeep Bhachu, admitted two counts of causing death by dangerous driving.

Jasskamal Riyat, who was driving a black BMW 135i closely behind, denied racing but was found guilty of the same offences at a trial earlier this year.

At Leeds Crown Court on Monday, Judge Ray Singh jailed Bhachu for 12 years and Riyat for 16 years.

The judge said while handing down sentence that the "road is not a racetrack" and that "a powerful car is not an invitation to test its limits on a public road".

"The consequences of competitive driving at extreme speed can be, and in this case were, irreversible," he added.

"Two people died... They had done nothing wrong; they were simply walking to school."

The court heard that on the day of the offence, Bhachu and Riyat's vehicles came alongside each other at traffic lights in the morning rush hour traffic.

The judge said that from this point they accelerated aggressively and drove at excessive speeds, telling the court they were clearly racing.

After a brief conversation between the two at another red light, they then travelled in convoy, weaving around the traffic and stopping only at red lights.

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At the final traffic lights before the collision, the judge said, Riyat used his mobile telephone to film Bhachu before both vehicles accelerated away.

He added that shortly before the collision, the Audi was travelling at about 89mph, in an area where the 40mph speed limit was transitioning to 30mph.

Riyat remained following the Audi "at substantial speed," the judge said, before Bhachu lost control of the Audi, which mounted the pavement and collided with Ms Hulboj and Lena, causing them fatal injuries.

He also said that Riyat then fled the scene.

Susannah Proctor, for Bhachu, told the court that her client was a "normal person who's made a massive mistake".

Dominik Czepczor, Ms Hulboj's fiance, also told the court that "my whole world collapsed in one second," and that "all that remains are wonderful memories and a constant fight for the next day, which is not easy".

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