Woman jailed after crash killed three men near Dunmore
A young early-years assistant who killed her boyfriend and two other young men in a “horrendous” high-speed crash was jailed for less than four years on Thursday.
Jorja Colville – whose sentence of three years, 10 months amounts to less than 16 months for each life she took – was told by a judge her driving had been “appallingly dangerous”.
Dressed in dark clothing and weeping throughout the hearing, Colville was also disqualified from driving for six years, 11 months.
She was told she would have been jailed for five years but for her early guilty plea.
Colville, then 20, hit speeds at more than 92 miles an hour in her personal-reg Ford Focus on an undulating country road in the lead-up to the crash near Dunmore.
She continued to drive at speeds in excess of 85mph as she took a bend, before losing control and crashing into a tree.
Her three passengers – her boyfriend, Reece Williams, 23, and two friends, Lewis Soden, 24, and Connor Page, 21 – were fatally injured.
Colville escaped with a broken shoulder and ribs but after the collision she was diagnosed with PTSD, anxiety and depression and the court heard she'd been receiving medication and therapy.
The crash happened on Moss Road, near Dunmore, around 6.15pm on an early summer evening in good weather – on Friday, 26 July, 2024 – as the four were going out for dinner.
The High Court in Stirling heard that Colville was “happy – excited even” to be out.
The court heard that a witness was driving about 60 miles per hour – the speed limit for the road – on the approach to the collision site when Colville's white Focus, which had the registration JO17 RJA, came up behind her.
It overtook her before pulling back in close to the front of her vehicle, the pulling away at speed.
The court heard the road before the crash site features peaks and troughs with a warning sign in place to alert drivers. After a series of bends, the witness noticed debris on the road and then saw the Focus on its side in bushes, badly damaged, and Colville covered in blood and screaming for help.
Prosecutor Scott McKenzie said: "Jorja Colville said that there were three other people in the car who couldn't get out. She described that none of them were awake and that she did not know if they were breathing.”
Another driver saw the white Focus approaching him in the opposing lane.
Mr McKenzie said: “He saw the white Ford momentarily leave the road surface due to the dip on the road and formed the impression it was travelling at excessive speed. He saw the vehicle land back on the road surface before it lost control as it passed him.” He turned back to offer help.
Mr McKenzie said: "He could not find any signs of life from the three males still in the vehicle."
When police arrived Colville confirmed she was the driver and said her boyfriend Reece Williams was in the car along with her friends.
Mr Williams was found at post mortem to have sustained blunt force injuries to his head, chest, abdomen and limbs. Mr Soden had multiple injuries to his head, neck, chest abdomen and pelvis and Mr Page died from multiple head and neck injuries.
Data recovered from the Ford Focus which showed that it was consistently travelling at over the 60 mph speed limit, but the speed increased greatly on the approach to the crash scene, hitting a maximum speed of 92.6 mph prior to a bend and continuing through the bend at speeds in excess of 85 mph.
Collision investigators said the crash occurred because the driver was "driving at significantly excessive speed for the road layout and approaching hazards of which she was warned of".
Colville, now 21, of Broomridge, Stirling, a first offender with a clean licence she had held for two years nine months at the time, appeared for sentence after pleading guilty in November to causing the deaths by dangerous driving.
She had been on bail until Thursday for preparation of reports.
Gordon Martin KC, defending, said Colville had not driven since and “had no wish” to ever drive again.
Judge Lady Ross told Colville: “For reasons that defy any understanding you were driving at a speed that was far too fast for the road and well in excess of the speed limit. You lost control and the result was catastrophic.”
Lady Ross said a social enquiry report had suggested “anxiety and a sense of excitement” might have contributed to her behaviour.
But she said: “It is hard to see that behaviour as anything other than senseless and reckless and obviously dangerous.”
The court heard Colville had no memory of the incident and could offer no explanation why she was driving so fast, but was deeply remorseful.
Lady Ross said: “No sentence which I can impose will come anywhere close to matching the sense of loss experienced by those who are bereaved. The value of a human life is immeasurable and can in no way be reflected in the length of a sentence.”
Sounds of weeping from the public benches – where the bereaved families were sitting – filled the courtroom after Lady Ross said those killed were three “kind, hard-working and cheerful young men of strength and character” with their lives ahead of them.
She said: “I have read words written in the most moving terms of how loved and cherished they were and continue to be.”
Colville shook with sobs as the sentence was pronounced, before she was handcuffed to a guard and led to cells.
Lady Ross told her: “When you are in prison I encourage you to use your time wisely, and when you leave prison live your life well, purposefully and constructively – not just for your own sake but in memory of those who died.”
At the time of the crash, it was revealed Reece was currently living in Camelon, but originally from the Dunfermline area, while Lewis was from the Cambridgeshire area and Connor was from Brecon in Wales.
Reece’s mother Tracy said the tragedy had not only affected her family, "but Jorja and her family too".
She said: "We know she didn't set out to cause hurt that day, and this will be something she will carry for the rest of her life.”
After the incident, Lewis' family said: “There will not be a day where Lewis won't be missed and where we won’t hold room in our hearts to remember him and the memories that we all made together.” Connor's family said: "Connor was loved beyond words."
Following the sentencing, Road Policing Inspector David Marr said: “Our thoughts remain with the families and friends of the men who died in this tragic incident. I hope this conviction and sentencing will bring some form of justice as they continue to come to terms with what happened.
“Colville’s reckless actions cut short the lives of three young men. It’s a stark reminder of the responsibility every driver has when they get behind the wheel and how driving dangerously can have devastating consequences.”