Billings told police his 100mph chase was 'me being me'
Macaulay Billings attempted to escape by driving at high speeds in the wrong direction on the M1 near Wakefield, terrifying his two passengers and other road users.The crash caused catastrophic injuries to both the driver of the BMW, and to Billings’s passengers. The BMW driver lost half a pint of blood and had to have part of his small bowel removed, as well as suffering fractures to his spine, pelvis and ribs.
The other passenger suffered from a fractured sternum and broken right and left legs. The court was told that so much metal had been used to reconstruct his legs, that the cold weather caused him great pain. Judge Robin Mairs later told the court that, following the crash, Billings told police the incident was “just me being me”, and that he had told hospital staff he would “drive again as soon as he left hospital”.
In a statement, one of Billings’s passengers said he “hated Macca for what he had done”, and wanted to see him sent to prison “for a long time”. Billings, of Cholmley Street, Hull, had pleaded guilty to three counts of serious injury by dangerous driving and three of serious injury by driving while disqualified.
Mitigating for Billings, Nicholas Leadbeater told the court: “There is no mitigation in relation to the offence. The matter speaks for itself. He has little recollection, but he takes no issue with the police descriptions of the events.”Sentencing Billings, Judge Mairs said he wanted to impose the maximum sentence possible, adding: “It’s difficult to think of a more callous disregard of other road users.