Woman 'crashed into pair at 113mph'

7:08pm Wednesday 15th October 2008

A businesswoman crashed her partner's Jaguar in to a young couple at 113mph before telling police she had "killed someone", a court has heard.

Mary Butres, 47, was driving John Nichols' Jaguar XJ8 when it hit surface water, skidded and crashed into Mark Crompton, 20, and his 19-year-old girlfriend Jodie Brown, Nottingham Crown Court heard.

A jury was told the couple were phoning for help after their Ford Fiesta broke down in the A1's central reservation at Great Ponton, Lincolnshire, when the crash happened in May last year, killing them both.

Nichols, 58, was a front seat passenger in the car. The Jaguar's computer recorded that it was travelling at 113mph at the moment of the crash, the court heard earlier.

PC David Gordon was one of the first officers on the scene.

He said: "I went to where the Jaguar was. They didn't have any injuries and she (Butres) was saying 'Oh my God, I've just killed someone'."

Pc Stuart Jeffs interviewed Butres after the crash in his police car. He said: "She (Butres) smelt of alcohol. She said: 'All I could see was the car coming towards my lane. I reacted to that and swerved. I was travelling within the speed limit and I was not overtaking. I saw the car in the central reservation. I don't think it was my fault'."

Pc Jeffs said that initially Butres was unable to give a breath test at the side of the road because she was in shock but she was later tested at Grantham police station.

That test showed Butres, a boss at a packaging firm, was one and a half times the legal limit, the court heard.

Butres, of Stamford, Lincs, and Nichols, of Carlby, Lincs, both deny two counts of causing death by dangerous driving.

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