JAILED: 'Cowardly' motorcyclist left friend for dead after 90mph crash

A tearaway motorcyclist, who was riding a stolen 600cc Yamaha Thunderclap without lights in the dark at up to 90mph when he crashed and killed his close friend, has been jailed for six years ameight months.

Neither Nash Dupree-Moseley, 22, nor his 20-year-old pillion passenger Joshua Bunn, was wearing a helmet as the bike hurtled down Bradley Lane, Bilston, at around 9pm on April 17, a judge heard.

It ploughed into the side of a black Ford Galaxy driven by Aneta Gorniak, hurling Mr Bunn off the machine into a post box, Wolverhampton Crown Court was told.

The crash happened as Ms Gorniak turned right, out of Edinburgh Road, into Bradley Lane where she was going to drop her passenger at a bus stop.

Mr Paul Spratt, prosecuting, said: "She simply did not see the motorbike which was being driven at very significant speed."

He revealed that 375 metres before the impact the machine was doing 75mph in a 30mph zone, while a motorist overtaken earlier by the Yamaha estimated it had been going at up to 90mph.

Mr Spratt concluded: "It was a prolonged, persistently bad bit of driving at high speed."

Dupree-Moseley, who was not seriously hurt, fled leaving his long-standing friend dead or dying at the scene and did not alert any of the emergency services to the tragedy.

The court heard that Dupree-Moseley, who had neither a driving licence nor insurance, pretended to be his brother and claimed to have been assaulted when he went to hospital for treatment.

He was traced to his home and arrested by police the following day.

Mr Timothy Banks, defending, said: "He will have to cope with the guilt he feels for the rest of his life and has vowed never to get on a bike again."

Dupree-Moseley, of Slim Avenue, Bradley, who had several previous convictions, pleaded guilty to causing death by dangerous driving.

He was jailed and banned from driving for nine years and 10 months on release from the prison sentence by Judge Barry Berlin who told him: "You were tearing around a residential area on a stolen motorcycle without lights in dark areas at close to, if not at, three times the speed limit.

"It is a shame you did not display the remorse you now profess to have at the scene rather than running away and leaving your friend for dead."

Speaking after after the hearing, Detective Sergeant Paul Hughes, from the Serious Collision Investigation Unit, said, "This was a cowardly act by Dupree-Moseley who chose to ride a motorbike, which was later discovered to have been stolen, in an extremely dangerous manner.

"Tragically his friend suffered the consequences for his actions and was killed. We hope this sentence provides some comfort to the family of the victim."