By Staff Reporter

Last updated at 11:31, Thursday, 02 August 2012

A horse trainer might never ride again after a horrific crash in a car being driven by a young friend, a court heard yesterday.

Rachael Farrell, 33, suffered multiple injuries including a broken neck, severe head injuries and a fractured collarbone when she caught the full force of the car slamming into a tree. She had to be cut free by firefighters and was transferred to a spinal unit in Newcastle.

After spending five weeks in hospital the mother-of-two had to move back to be cared for by her parents because of her injuries, which are expected to affect her for the rest of her life and which may have ended her horse-riding career.

At Carlisle Crown Court, the driver of the car – 20-year-old horse-mad Amber Sullivan – was fined £3,000 and banned from driving for six months after pleading guilty to careless driving.

She had originally been accused of dangerous driving, but that charge was dropped. Imposing the sentence, Judge Barbara Forrester emphasised that the law allowed her to punish Sullivan only for the faults in her driving, not for the catastrophic results of it.

The court heard that Sullivan, who, like Ms Farrell, lives in Lowca, near Whitehaven, had been working as a barmaid in Gallagher’s bar in Whitehaven until 2.30am on the morning of the crash.

She was on the road again in her VW Polo by 6.30am, and it was not known how much – if any – sleep she had had.

Shortly before the accident one of Sullivan’s friends, Daniel Whittle, sent her a text message telling her not to overtake in “daft places” after seeing her passing where it was not safe, the court was told.

Soon afterwards she lost control of her car on a left-hand bend on the A66 at Broughton Cross.

In mitigation defence barrister Greg Hoare said Sullivan had passed her driving test about a year before the accident on July 17 2011.

It was ironic that Ms Farrell had been a good friend and one of the people who supervised her when she was learning to drive.

She and Ms Farrell had been travelling to Morpeth for a day’s horse-riding at the time of the crash.

Mr Hoare said the accident had been caused by Sullivan’s inexperience, which had led her to oversteer on the bend.

She had been driving too fast for the conditions, he said, but had not been exceeding the speed limit.

First published at 11:26, Thursday, 02 August 2012
Published by http://www.newsandstar.co.uk