A teenager has been jailed for killing three of his friends after inhaling laughing gas behind the wheel and speeding at more than 100mph.
Thomas Johnson, 19, was driving a BMW when it crashed into a lamppost and a tree, killing three passengers, on the A415 in Oxfordshire, last year.
He was jailed for nine years and four months at Oxford Crown Court on Wednesday for causing the deaths of Elliot Pullen, 17, Ethan Goddard, 18 and Daniel Hancock, 18, by dangerous driving.
The force of the collision just after midnight on June 20 2023 “ripped the roof off” the car and all three victims suffered “unsurvivable injuries” and were pronounced dead at the scene, the court heard.
The court was shown videos recovered from the phones of the passengers in which a balloon, typically used to inhale nitrous oxide – also known as laughing gas, could be seen in Johnson’s mouth.
Two separate clips showed Johnson driving one-handed while holding a balloon as the car swerved in one video and accelerated at speed in the other.
Another showed Johnson with a balloon in his mouth as he was stationary behind the wheel at a red light while a passenger can be heard laughing in the background.
Prosecutor Neil Moore told the court that effects of the gas include “disorientation” and “general impairment” and an expert who had provided evidence to the case concluded that “taking the drug is not compatible with driving a car safely and the concurrent use while driving is very dangerous due to the rapid onset of the effects”.
One canister of nitrous oxide was found in the driver’s footwell and a further eight were found in the boot of the car, he said.
A forensic investigation found at the time of the crash the car was travelling at up to 87mph along the stretch of road where the speed limit was 30mph, and at more than 100mph shortly before Johnson lost control of the vehicle.
Johnson had also disabled a safety mechanism on a car and deliberately attempted to “drift”.
Passing sentence, Judge Emma Nott told Johnson he will be “forever defined” by his “teenage mistakes” and that at the time of the crash, he was “highly impaired by the consumption of drugs” and had “lost control” of the vehicle in “a prolonged, persistent and deliberate course of dangerous driving”.
She said: “In short, while inhaling nitrous oxide and having disabled essential safety features, showing off to your friends and doubtless encouraged by their presence, you accelerated beyond your ability to control your car and sought to ‘drift’ around the narrow bend into Marcham – and all for teenage thrills.”
As a result, the judge added, “your three passengers will never see beyond their teenage years and you move out of yours significantly and permanently disabled”.
The judge went on to list some of the injuries suffered by Johnson during the crash as she jailed the 19-year-old, including traumatic brain injuries, a collapsed lung, cracked ribs and the permanent loss of sight in one eye.
She told him that his “visible facial disfiguration” would be “a permanent reminder to you and those who meet you that you caused the death of your friends”.
Johnson had been in an induced coma after the crash and suffers from amnesia and “moderately severe” depression and anxiety, she added.
In mitigation, Mark Haslam told the court that his client Johnson was “genuinely” remorseful and that his immaturity “clearly paid a part” in his decision-making that night.
Johnson’s “life-changing injuries” and the “burden” of the knowledge he has killed three people he knew should be taken into consideration in his sentence, he added.
Mr Haslam said: “The defendants’ tears in this case, and there have been many and there will be many more – are not crocodile tears, he is genuinely incredibly distressed and remorseful.”
Earlier in the hearing, members of the victims’ families cried as they read out impact statements to the court.
Mr Pullen’s sister said the day her brother died, “everything stopped” and the grief of losing “my only sibling and life-long friend” would “stick with me forever”.
Mr Goddard’s mother told the court her son was studying to be an engineer and was waiting to hear back from a job interview when he died.
She sobbed as she said: “Ethan has left a massive hole in our lives that can never be filled, and we miss him every single day.”
Mr Hancock’s father said his statement could “never convey the horror, trauma and devastation” that the defendant’s actions had caused.
He said that their family “didn’t have the opportunity to say goodbye” and instead, his son had “died alone in the dark at the side of the road”.
His mother cried as she said she missed her son with “every fibre of my being”.
She said her son was now a “pile of ashes, in a box no bigger than a shoebox” and that she stares “in disbelief” at his name on the box.
Possession of nitrous oxide – sometimes referred to as “hippie crack”, “gas and air” or “NOS” – for recreational use was made criminal offence shortly after the crash in November 2023.
After the sentencing, Crown Prosecution Service lawyer Bill Khindey said: “Thomas Johnson’s disregard for the safety of others that night was clear.”
“We recognise that no sentence can alleviate the pain suffered by the families of Elliot, Ethan and Daniel, and our thoughts remain with them,” they added.
Johnson, of Stainswick Lane, Shrivenham, near Swindon, was also disqualified from driving for 11 years and 11 weeks.
Senior investigating officer Detective Sergeant Tony Jenkins said: “This was without a doubt one of the most catastrophic and tragic collisions I have ever investigated.”
“Ethan, Elliot and Daniel stood no chance,” he added, and Johnson “will have to live with the consequences of his decisions that night for the rest of his life.”
