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How car's black box trapped speeding Rich List heir who left baby paralysed in Range Rover crash
Last updated at 01:52am on 04.04.08The heir to a £130million fortune is facing jail after leaving a baby paralysed in a car crash.
Cerys Edwards suffered massive injuries when Antonio Boparan Singh ploughed his £57,000 Range Rover into her parents' Jeep.
The 21-year-old was weaving in and out of traffic, doing 70mph in a 30mph limit. The collision shunted the Jeep 57ft backwards and into the car behind.
Cerys, who had just turned one, was secured in a child seat but sustained a broken neck and brain damage.
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Paralysed: Cerys Edwards, pictured before the accident
She needs round-the-clock care and a ventilator to help her breathe.
Singh faces a maximum sentence of two years in jail after being convicted at Birmingham Crown Court on Tuesday of dangerous driving.
His parents - Ranjit and Baljinder Boparan Singh - pledged £1million surety to secure his release on bail until sentencing later this month.
The couple featured at number 49 in last year's Sunday Times Rich List with a fortune estimated at £130million.
They own the 2 Sisters Food Group which supplies poultry to Tesco and other food firms.
Cerys's parents, Gareth and Tracy, called yesterday for stiffer penalties for dangerous driving.
Mr Edwards said Singh had told paramedics that Cerys was on her father's lap and not in her seat during the crash.
"I was investigated for a week by the police, until they realised it was all complete lies", added the 43-year-old self-employed builder.
"Singh has put us through absolute hell. A two-year sentence would be absurdly lenient - we weren't even allowed to tell the jury how he destroyed our lives."
Richard Langton, the family's solicitor, said: "The maximum sentence for dangerous driving is just two years, but if Singh had killed Cerys, he would face a maximum sentence of 14 years for causing death by dangerous driving.
"There needs to be either a new charge to reflect cases where serious injury is caused by dangerous driving, or the maximum penalty for dangerous driving should be considerably raised to account for cases like this one."
He said that if Cerys, two, dies from her injuries, Singh could be prosecuted for causing death by dangerous driving.
Mr Edwards suffered a broken nose and rib in the crash a mile from the family home in Sutton Coldfield, West Midlands.
His wife, who was driving, broke her ankle. She said: "Cerys was effectively killed in the accident.
"If we took away her ventilator she would soon die. Singh has wrecked our lives." The 41-year-old former office administrator now helps look after Cerys at the Children's Trust rehabilitation centre in Surrey.
Singh was 19 at the time of the crash in November 2006 and had passed his driving test six months earlier. The trial heard he had overtaken one car and was trying to pass a second when he ploughed into the oncoming Jeep at an estimated 72mph.
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Guilty: Antonio Boparan Singh, who was convicted of dangerous driving, and his father Ranjit leave court as his victims decribed how the 21-year-old had 'ruined their lives'
The Range Rover was owned by Boparan Holdings, which controls the 2 Sisters Food Group.
The company's insurers have refused to cover the estimated £850,000 cost of converting a house for Cerys to live in. Because her life expectancy is uncertain they say they will only offer a rental property.
Mr Langton, of Russell Jones & Walker in Birmingham, described the stance as "callous" and plans to lodge a claim at the High Court for a £1million interim payment.
This would pay for a house in Sutton Coldfield and full-time carers.
The 2 Sisters group, which is based in West Bromwich, has 13 factories in the UK as well as operations in Holland and the U.S.
The holding group has annual sales of £650million and a workforce of more than 5,500.
Mrs Singh said her son was in training to become a manager at the family firm.
Speaking from her five-bedroom home on a private road in Little Aston, Sutton Coldfield, the 41-year-old said: £This whole episode has been very upsetting.I don't want to say anything further."
In a brief statement released through 2 Sisters last night, her son said: "This was a tragic accident that I deeply regret."
His father, also 41, said: "My family has every sympathy for Cerys and her family following this awful accident."
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Power: Singh was driving a £57,000 Range Rover
How black box kept track of danger driver
Singh's trial used evidence from a device fitted to the airbag system of his Range Rover - the first time such technology has played a role in a British court.
The Event Data Recorder, similar to an aircraft's black box, was used to establish that a force equivalent to 42mph was lost in one fifth of a second in the crash. This helped police put the defendant's speed at around 72mph.
Data recorders in airbags can record a car's speed and deceleration and other information such as the pressure on a brake pedal at the time of a crash.
Car manufacturers began installing them in vehicles in the 1990s to test airbag performance - early airbags often wrongly deployed in cars being driven over bumps.
Data provided by the recorders has been used in the U.S. and Canada for the last ten years to investigate crashes and, in some cases, aid prosecutions.
Experts predict such evidence will become an increasingly common in British courts.
Reader views (16)
I have no sympathy for the Boopran family. My heart goes out to that poor little girls family.
- S, Birmingham, 08/05/2008 00:25
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"Tracy of Wolverhampton" should hang her head in shame. "We all make mistakes" - er, you mean like leaving a toddler in a near vegetative state? I don't think we do.... Would you still adopt your extremely objectionable and incredibly dense stance were it your own little girl?
Singh is an ugly product of "a certain type" of imported wealth and arrogance, where flash cars and tasteless bling accessories are de rigeur. I would like to say more, but I'd probably get a full ten years for the terrible crime of "inciting racism".
- Oliver Anderson, London, UK, 24/04/2008 22:56
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My heart absolutely bleeds for this family, having a beautiful little three year old girl myself, just the joy of seeing her smiling and playing is a gift in itself, yet this poor family, through the fault of somebody else's silly actions will not know this joy. I do feel for the Singh family, as they may lose their son to a custodial sentence, yet they also must take some responsibility, I have two older sons who were brought up to never take such irresponsible actions. The family is valued at having assets of in excess of £130 million, this family needs £1million, to convert a house so that their daughter can live with them, the fact is their son caused this to happen to this little girl, and if as they say, they do feel sorry for the Edwards family, they should pay this money themselves. Remember this is not a case were the poor are begging from the rich, there son caused this, and done this to this little girl and they should pay, and to Tracy, (who went to school with him), I do not need you to answer, to know that I am right in saying that you do not have any children.
- Jacqueline, Liverpool, UK, 21/04/2008 11:36
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I went to school with Antonio, he is not a vicious guy nor is he vindictive. I'm sure he is very sorry for what he has done. Horrible comments don't get any of us anywhere, and I would expect adults to have a more mature view of the situation. There is no need to persecute him more than he has been already, he is paying the price why should his family suffer because of his actions. Boycotting their business is futile and very childish... We all make mistakes, if it were us that this happened to I'm sure half of you would be quick to change your attitude.
- Tracy, Wolverhampton, 09/04/2008 19:59
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I don't see the problem here - give him the same treatment that poor baby suffered - break his legs, put them in stirrups that are permanently welded to his body, and make him spend the rest of his life in a wheelchair. Problem solved. Then he has to suffer the same thing that his victim does.
Of course, in our 'politically correct' society (i.e. anti-democratic) he will walk away with a slap on the wrist and carry on driving every day of his life, until he ruins somebody else's life too. Let's just hope it's a judge, or politician, as they make these undemocratic 'laws' so pathetic.
- Dave, Oxford, 04/04/2008 18:10
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Come on the Singh family do the honerable thing and pay for the baby's needs. Just think if it was your son that was at deaths door your hand would have been quick to pay up whatever the cost. What price has this baby and family paid.
You have a choice to be respected for your actions or not.
- Chris, London, 03/04/2008 23:13
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I hope that the majority of the Singh family's customers will boycott their business. Do they really want to trade with this callous bunch?
Maybe today's negative publicity will cause the insurers to rethink their position in respect of a payout for Cerys.
- Rachel, Glamorgan, UK, 03/04/2008 22:14
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The spoilt brat should be forced to give up his inheritance .. tens of millions of pounds will never repair the damage to that poor family's lives but it may serve as an incentive to future boy racers!
- Paulo, London, 03/04/2008 20:58
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English laws are the joke of the world. If putting this poor baby on a ventilator for the rest of her life is not equal to killing her then the law has to be changed.
Make the family pay the entire cost of looking after this poor family and send the boy to prison for 15yrs as he obviously thinks because he is rich he can get away with it. Well its time to remedy that, let him feel his loss of life for 15 years.
- John T, san jose cal,, 03/04/2008 20:07
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The fact that this spoilt brat lied and put the family through even more trauma is appalling. There should be much stricter sentences. He was only caught due to the black box in the car. His parents should be ashamed of themselves and I would have thought would have given more money to this poor child's family. He's destroyed a healthy child's life.
- Miss Kaur, London, 03/04/2008 15:22
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"This was a tragic accident that I deeply regret." Was it an accident that he was doing 70mph in a 30mph and on the wrong side of the road?
I think his parents should also share some blame for allowing him to drive such a powerful vehicle when he'd only had his licence for six months - what a spoilt child he must be.
He doesn't seem to be showing nearly enough remorse for what he has done.
- Isabel, Woking, England, 03/04/2008 15:15
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There shouldn't be a maximum limits for any offence, it should be at the judge's discretion. And the Singh family ought to be forced to pay for the care and accomodation required by this poor child - they can obviously afford it.
- Brian, Birmingham, 03/04/2008 12:50
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The fact that Mr Singh's family offered more to bail out their son than the victims will receive to help rebuild their lives is repugnant.
This arrogant little twerp should serve 15 to 20 for his selfish, irresponsible and idiotic actions.
- Matt, Oxford, 03/04/2008 09:31
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"Singh faces a maximum sentence of two years in jail after being convicted at Birmingham Crown Court on Tuesday of dangerous driving."
Oh come on, what more evidence do you need that we should bring in an attempted vehicular manslaughter and a vehicular manslaughter charge in this country?
- Austin Maxi, London, 03/04/2008 09:15
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What the UK needs is more prisons and a determination to prove that the needs of society are greater than the needs of the transgressor. What it has got is load of woolie politicians.
- Roz, Chamonix, France, 03/04/2008 09:00
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My heart goes out to the little girl & her family. As for the person who did this and the behaviour of his insurers, it speaks volumes for the callous number crushing inhumane system we now call modern Britain.
- W Joseph, London, UK, 03/04/2008 08:13
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