Handsworth Wood driver jailed for crash which killed his passenger

A speeding driver from Birmingham who killed his passenger after losing control and crashing into a family car has been jailed for causing the fatal collision.

Manveer Gill had been travelling at more than double the speed limit – overtaking cars and ignoring keep left bollards – in a Seat Leon when he clipped a kerb and smashed into the parked vehicle.

It happened in Pelsall Lane, Walsall, on the evening of 26 March last year and left back seat passenger Arjun Gandham with injuries he couldn’t survive.

The 19-year-old was pronounced dead at the scene.

In a tribute issued shortly after the crash, his devastated family described Arjun as a ‘hard working, witty and loving young man. Any room he entered lit up with laughter’.

Gill himself was seriously injured having been thrown from the Leon, while several family members in the stationary Chevrolet Traxa, including a nine-year-old girl, were also seriously hurt.

Thankfully the child, plus a man and woman, survived and were released from hospital a week later.

Gill, aged 21 of Chalcot Grove, Handsworth Wood, admitted causing death by dangerous driving at an earlier hearing and today (Friday 25 March) was sentenced at Wolverhampton Crown Court to three years and nine months in jail.

On release Gill will also be banned from driving for a total of four years, 10 months and two weeks.

What did police say following sentencing?

Detective Constable Katie Lees from the Serious Collision Investigation Unit, said: “A young man’s life was taken in this tragic collision. I can only hope that his family and friends may find some comfort in Gill’s guilty plea and now his sentencing.

“Gill’s driving on that evening was a tragedy waiting to happen: he was driving at 61mph in a 30 zone and performing hugely dangerous overtaking manoeuvres.

“Lots of people have been impacted by this collision and been left to try and find a way ahead with their lives.

“Speeding on our roads carries with it inherent dangers and I’d hope that a case like this at least makes people think twice about how they behave behind the wheel.”

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