By David Powell

Copyright dailypost

A driver found a car “in a hedge on fire” moments after he was overtaken by two vehicles that appeared to be racing before a fatal crash

Father-of-two Rhys Jenkins, 41, of Deuddw, Powys, died and his nine-year-old son Ioan was seriously injured following the crash on the Belan Straight on the A483 near Welshpool last November 16.

Abubakr Ben Yusaf, 29, and Umar Ben Yusaf, 34, both deny causing death by dangerous driving, causing serious injury by dangerous driving and causing death while uninsured. You can sign up for all the latest court stories here

On the second day of the trial at Mold Crown Court today several witnesses said the brothers seemed to be racing their cars.

One man, Tyler Lewis, who was driving his VW Polo towards Welshpool at about 6pm on the night of the crash said a red or orange car overtook him then a blue car overtook him “on a series of bends”.

Mr Lewis told the prosecutor John Philpotts it had not been safe for the blue car to overtake him because “we could not see what was coming”.

He came upon the accident soon afterwards involving a silver car. He said: “As I was coming past a farm it looked like the car was in a hedge on fire.”

Mr Tyler said it was a silver car – not the BMW or the blue car in the hedge.. He said a BMW was parked up the road and appeared to be “very damaged”.

He told the prosecutor he stopped and got out and saw a tall man with a “big black beard” at the scene.

People at the scene had tried but couldn’t open the silver car. Mr Philpotts asked Mr Lewis: “Is it right it looked to you as though the man driving the silver car had died?”

“Yes,” said Mr Lewis.

Eventually the man with the beard got into the silver car, lifted up an unconscious boy and put him at the side of the road.

Both brothers, who are from Manchester, were arrested that evening near Welshpool.

Abubakr Ben Yusaf drove a BMW X3 and the Audi S4 was driven by Umar Ben Yusaf, the court heard. Today another motorist Roy Jennings said he had been travelling in his VW Golf car from Newtown towards Welshpool with his seven-year-old son.

After the Newtown bypass roundabout he told the court two cars – a red Audi or BMW then a silver or light blue BMW – overtook him on a bend.

‘Racing each other’

Mr Jennings told the prosecutor: “It looked as though they were racing each other.” He said their overtaking manoeuvre was “very dangerous”.

Mr Jennings added: “I couldn’t see the number plate of the first car – that shows how close they were to one another. I had got my little lad in the car. I was not too happy, myself. As soon as they overtook me I flashed my lights.”

In cross examination, Mr Jennings admitted to Ms Saleema Mahmood, for Umar Ben Yusaf, that he didn’t know what caused the crash or the exact cars involved.

But he added: “You haven’t got to be a scientist to work (it) out…if two cars are racing.”

Another witness Anthony Demery said two cars overtook him and he thought they were racing.

Ben Carpenter had been travelling southwards, from Welshpool towards Newtown. He said two cars came towards him.

‘Alarmingly fast’

An oncoming car seemed to be on or over the central line. It was throwing up stones or grit from a grubby road outside a farm and its speed “caught me by surprise.”

Soon afterwards a second, blue car was going “alarmingly fast”. The prosecutor Mr Philpotts asked: “What did you assume they were doing?”

Mr Carpenter said: “Driving too fast.” In cross examination Mr Carpenter agreed with David Martin Sperry, representing Abubakr Yusuf, said it had been dark and wet.

Another witness Cary Anne Groves said she was also overtaken by a red car then a blue car. She said the first one was so close she felt intimidated. The second one was also close and she felt intimidated again.

She said she thought they were “racing”. And another driver Emma Crabtree, driving from Newtown northwards to Welshpool on the A483, said a “speeding” red car came up behind me “very fast” at 90 to 100mph” and overtook her.

Then a dark car overtook her too. Moments later those two cars were “side by side”. She was “in shock” at their speeds, she told the prosecutor.

“It was like they were racing against each other.”

Dashcam footage from her vehicle was played where she is heard saying: “There is no way they were doing 60”. It was a 60mph limit road.

David Stacey, forensic collision investigator for Dyfed Powys Police, said the collision was between the Welshpool-bound, red BMW X3 car, driven by Abubakr Ben Yusaf, and Rhys Jenkins’ Newtown-bound, white Toyota Yaris.

The impact, where both cars’ drivers’ sides collided with each other, was entirely in the Toyota’s lane, said Mr Stacey.

The road was in a good condition for steering and braking.

He said: “The force (of the impact) was severe (and) caused the Toyota to be knocked back into the nearside hedge, and rotate approximately 180 degrees.

The Toyota was facing in the direction that it had travelled from.” It was four metres from the impact point.

The red BMW was badly damaged and rotated 360 degrees before coming to rest, the court heard. It finished up 21 metres beyond the Toyota.

The trial continues.

Find crime figures for your area