A road rage crash victim heartbreakingly asked to be killed when told about his life-changing injuries.

Luke Guilford has no recollection of his then-boyfriend Thomas Penn losing control of the car he was driving and smashing into the front of a house.

The car passenger was left paralysed in the horrific road rage crash.

He subsequently asked to be euthanised when doctors revealed the extent of his harrowing injuries.

Penn ploughed into the front of a house when pursued by an Audi, which left the scene without trace.

Thomas Penn outside Leicester Crown Court

The collision happened when Penn - who was over the legal limit for driving with cannabis in his system - was speeding in an uninsured Ford Focus convertible.

The crash unfolded in Ryder Road,  Braunstone  Frith, Leicester, at 10.30pm on Saturday, April 7, last year.

Penn pleaded guilty to causing serious injury by dangerous driving, and was sentenced at  Leicester Crown Court. 

The 28-year-old admitted the offence on the basis that he was under duress whilst fleeing from the Audi.

He was not, as the prosecution claimed, racing when he hit a kerb, uprooted a tree and jettisoned into the house.

Penn, who later moved to Cotswold Close, Birmingham, gave an inconsistent and unreliable account, Judge Martin Hurst found.

The judge heard evidence on the circumstances from witnesses, as well as the defendant.

He concluded that he could not be sure, in law, that Penn was racing at the time of the collision.

The defendant gave conflicting accounts of encountering the Audi on the roundabout near Glenfield Hospital, claiming an occupant threw bottles or cans at his vehicle, before driving away, reports LeicestershireLive.

He claimed he later saw the Audi in Scudamore Road and pursued it to ask why something was thrown at his vehicle.

Penn said the Audi contained members of the "travelling community" who had Irish accents, were wearing balaclavas or scarves with hoodies, and had frightened him by getting out of their car when he stopped.

He then overtook the Audi, and claimed that it was whilst being chased along Ryder Road that he lost control and crashed.

Penn suffered a broken neck in the crash and for a time wore a medical halo device.

Mr Guilford suffered catastrophic and irreparable spinal injuries, said Andrew Peet, prosecuting.

The crash left the 31-year-old tetraplegic - paralysed from the shoulders down.


When he was told he had lost the use of his arms and legs, and that other organs were affected, he asked medics if he could be euthanised and said he wished he had not survived the crash.

Now a lifetime wheelchair user, the victim is reliant on others for round-the-clock care.

In a personal impact statement read out in courtm Mr Guilford described feeling suicidal and "like a prisoner" in his own body.

Driver Penn told the court: "I didn't do it deliberately.

"He (Mr Guilford) was my partner and I loved him."

He also said: "I'm not a boy racer, I wasn't racing in any way, shape or form."

Penn said he initially pursued the Audi to "big myself up" to his partner - but then became fearful when the Audi overtook and tail-gated him.

Penn said: "I wasn't thinking rationally.

"It was a hostile situation. I was so scared. In tunnel vision, I just wanted to get away."

At the time of the tragedy, Penn and Mr Guilford were living in Leicester Forest East, running a burger bar and planning a happy future together. They split up six months after the collision.  

Mr Peet said the defendant's account of fleeing from men he believed were armed and masked travellers was "fantastical", and that there was no evidence about it other than Penn's.

"The Crown says it was pure and simple racing," said Mr Peet.

Penn's case was that he admitted driving dangerously, exceeding the 30mph speed limit, and when he overtook the Audi he realised he had made a mistake and become "the chased rather than the chaser".

A householder told the court he heard the sound of revving, the screech of tyres and a bang.

Another resident reported seeing the black Audi appear to be chasing the defendant's Focus.

Penn, who bought the Ford a few days earlier, claimed he mistakenly thought he was covered by the seller's "trader's insurance".


Another witness, a 12-year-old boy, who was looking out of his bedroom window in Ryder Road, said he saw both cars side by side before the Focus, on the wrong side of the road, swerved to avoid a parked red Mazda before the Focus left the road, followed by a bang.

The Audi did not stop.

Penn, who later moved to Cotswold Close, Birmingham, told an ambulance technician at the scene that he was being chased by another car before hitting the kerb, causing the vehicle to flip and hit the house.

Analysis of a blood sample taken from Penn more than five hours after the collision showed he had three micrograms of cannabis THC per 100 millilitres of blood. The legal limit is two micrograms of cannabis. However, he was not charged in relation to that.

Penn claimed he had shared a cannabis cigarette with others whilst visiting a friend earlier that evening.

There was no alcohol present in his system.

CCTV footage showed the cars travelling closely together along Scudamore Road at an estimated 48 - 50mph in a 30mph area and turning into Ryder Road. There was no footage of the crash.


Judge Hurst said that whatever had happened to provoke animosity between the defendant and the unknown Audi driver, Penn's actions were not those of a careful and prudent driver.

He said he could not be sure there were mask-wearing travellers in pursuit, and said Penn failed to take many other options, including going to a nearby Tesco store to seek help, asking his partner to call 999 or stopping his car and locking the doors.

The judge said the aggravating features were the life-altering injuries suffered by Mr Guilford, Penn's cannabis consumption and having no insurance.

"It's an absolute tragic story and was completely unnecessary," he said.

Judge Hurst also said Penn had told lies at the police station, in his defence case statement and continued to lie in court.

He told the defendant: "Your ex-partner, Luke, will continue to suffer for the rest of his life.

"You suffered serious injuries of your own, but seem pretty fit now."

The judge said the unknown Audi driver who contributed to the crash was "driving equally as badly".


Helen Johnson, mitigating, said of Penn: "He's taken a long time to come to terms with everything.

"It's also had a huge impact on his life and he's got to live with what he's done."

Penn was jailed for three years and four months.

He was banned from driving for six years and eight months.