Crowborough crash: Horror video captures last moments of two friends who speed to their deaths

Hannah Al-Othman13 October 2015

Horrifying video footage has captured the last moments of two young men's lives as they sped to their deaths in a car crash.

Driver Kyle Careford, 20, and his friend Michael Owen, 21, both died instantly when the red Renault Clio they were in crashed into a church wall and overturned in Crowborough, East Sussex in the early hours of Sunday, April 12.

Mr Owen had been videoing their journey as they sped at up to 90mph through the Sussex countryside, and the film was retrieved from his phone, which was found under a tree at the crash scene the following morning.

The men's families have now agreed to release the tragic video, which was shown at the inquest into their deaths last week, in a bid to warn others of the risks posed by driving dangerously.

In the footage, the pair can be seen and heard laughing, chatting and singing as they fly through dark country roads.

Mr Owen appears to be giving Mr Careford a driving lesson as he films him dangerously overtaking traffic, before zooming in on a speedometer, which shows the car's speed creeping above 50 miles per hour.

Moments before the crash, Mr Owen shouts: "Slow down bruv, we are doing 90". The camera then goes black as a sickening crunch is heard.

The inquest, held in Hastings on Tuesday, heard how the two friends, both from Royal Tunbridge Wells, had both taken a cocktail of prescribed and illegal drugs that would have resulted in severe toxicity and have had a severely detrimental effect on Mr Careford's ability to control the car.

Mr Careford was also an inexperienced driver - he did not have a licence and was uninsured to drive the vehicle, which belonged to Mr Owen.

Kyle Careford (Picture: Facebook)
Facebook

The hearing was told that the car, travelling well in excess of the 30mph speed limit, careered off the road, before smashing through a wall into the grounds of St Michael and All Saints church, and both men, who had been wearing seat belts, died instantly.

Speaking after the inquest, Mr Owen's mother Kat said: "We bring our children up teaching them right from wrong. We guide them and give them our advice and hope they listen, but once they are adults we hope they make the right choices.

"I really don't know why the boys chose to do what they did, but I blame them both for the decisions they made on this night.

"If all this stops one person from making the same mistake, then some good has come from showing this video. I'm hoping it will have an impact on young people and make them see that a bit of fun can have such devastating consequences.

"I would like all the young people out there to take notice and realise that you are not invincible and take seriously how precious your lives are to yourselves and others. I want young drivers to consider how much devastation it causes to the families and loved ones that are left behind.

"Watching the video was very upsetting, but I'm hoping it can be used in a positive way, by showing young people what could happen to them."

Lauren Humble, Mr Owen's ex-partner, said his actions will have a lifetime impact on his five-year-old daughter.

"This video was absolutely heartbreaking to watch but it did give us all of the answers that were needed," she said.

"I know plenty of people who drive fast and I hope that this video will show people that driving like this can have devastating consequences and how short life can really be.

"You see car accidents on the news all of the time and you never think something like that would happen to you or your family.

"The Michael we saw on that video was not the Michael that we knew who was a loving, caring responsible daddy. The legacy that Michael has left is our beautiful daughter Lily-Rose who is 5-years-old, she will have to live with the impact of this horrific situation forever."

Michael Owen (Picture: Facebook)
Facebook

Zac Hemming, Mr Careford's brother, added: "This footage or anything of its kind should never be recorded, let alone watched.

"However, despite the pain of it being broadcast by the media, we as a family just hope and pray that this will connect with at least one person out there, young or old, so that no-one ever has to experience the unthinkable pain of losing someone so close and dearly loved."

Witnesses who gave evidence reported seeing the car in the hours leading up to the crash; a lorry driver reported seeing the vehicle randomly stop in the carriageway and then speed off as he tried to manoeuvre around it, a taxi driver said that he had been forced off the carriageway by a speeding red car on the wrong side of the road, and a woman had witnessed the car doing 'doughnuts' in a Crowborough car park.

The coroner recorded a verdict of death by road traffic collision on both men.

Chief Inspector Phil Nicholas from the Surrey and Sussex road policing unit, said: "I can not overstate the courage of both families in working with us to release this video and to add their words and thoughts about it.

"Sadly, my officers have to deal with the aftermath of fatal collisions on an all too regular basis, but the loss of two young lives in this incident in such circumstances is in equal measure shocking and frustrating.

"As Kat and Zac have so poignantly expressed, if the release of this incredibly impactive footage results in lives saved, then it will be a valuable legacy of Michael and Kyle's sad deaths."

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