A WREXHAM teenager suffered life-changing injuries, including brain damage, when an overloaded car crashed into a tree.

Most of the six passengers in the Vauxhall Corsa, which had been taken without consent, were hurt, some seriously.

A judge at Mold Crown Court said the crash could have proved fatal, but it was bad enough as it was.

Joshua Weeks, a young man with strong academic qualifications and with a bright future ahead of him, remained in a neurological unit with brain damage and had to learn how to do basic things such as walking and talking again.

The driver of the car, Tristan Jerome Roberts, 18, of Third Avenue, Gwersyllt, who himself suffered a brain injury in the impact and who attended court on a crutch, received 12 months’ detention after he admitted aggravated vehicle taking, careless driving, no insurance and not driving with a licence.

One of his passengers, Aaron Lee Lloyd, also 18, of Queensway, Gwersyllt, received an eight-month sentence suspended for two years after he admitted the aggravated vehicle taking of his mother’s Corsa.

He had earlier driven it in a supermarket car park, but at the time of the impact was sitting on the lap of a rear seat passenger and was thrown out of the vehicle in the early morning crash in Llay New Road.

The court heard that he had given up his front passenger seat position to friend Joshua Weeks, 18, who sustained the most serious injuries in the crash.

Both Roberts and Lloyd were banned from driving for 12 months.

Prosecutor Michael Whitty said that Joshua Weeks had been transferred to hospital at Stoke where he was treated for serious injuries, including a fracture to the base of his skull, extensive facial fractures and damage to the brain.

He had spent 13 weeks in critical care followed by a period in the specialist trauma care ward.

He was now in a specialist rehabilitation unit to deal with the effects of his brain injury.

His father, Peter, said in a victim impact statement that his son, who worked at Wrexham Football Club, had an uncertain future.

He had been a bright lad with a future, but his and his parents’ lives had been changed dramatically.

Mr Whitty said that after the two defendants, then aged 17, took Lloyd’s mother’s car while his parents were away for the weekend, they had driven around the Wrexham area and had picked up four other passengers when Roberts lost control on a bend and struck a tree side on.

Judge Geraint Walters said that during the early hours of February 6 the lives of the two defendants and the lives of many others were “changed for good”.

Roberts had not even had any driving lessons when the car, with six people packed into it, crashed.

But Joshua Weeks suffered life-threatening injuries and for a considerable period it was not known whether he would recover.

“The reality now is that he will suffer lifelong, permanent, debilitating injuries and all because you two decided to take a potentially lethal piece of machinery on to the road that you were ill-equipped to manage,” the judge said.

Lloyd, a young man of clean character, had to bear the responsibility for taking his mother’s car in the first place and Roberts was driving at the critical moments after “picking up the boys after an evening out in a pub”.

The judge said Roberts, who had previous convictions, was fortunate to be charged with careless driving. 

“That decision was merciful. In my judgement, this driving was bad,” he said.

Henry Hills, for Roberts, said his client appreciated his behaviour had profound consequences for all concerned, in particular for Joshua Weeks, while he was effectively joyriding with friends.

He was genuinely remorseful, had pleaded guilty at the earliest opportunity, was a troubled young man who himself suffered a traumatic brain injury in the crash.

Ian Barnes, for Lloyd, said his client took full responsibility for the taking of the vehicle.

He was full of genuine remorse, had behaved responsibly at “the horrific accident scene”, and even went back into the vehicle to unlock a door so that one of the others could be released.

Lloyd, who had a severe heart condition, was genuinely and desperately concerned for the others, particularly Mr Weeks. 

He regarded himself as very fortunate because he had been the front seat passenger, but moved to the back when Mr Weeks got in.