Girl racer killed boyfriend in head-on smash after boasting of hitting 150mph

A girl racer who killed her boyfriend in a horrific head-on smash just minutes after boasting of hitting 150mph was behind bars today.

Samantha Watson, 25, claimed to have more than doubled the national speed-limit at the wheel of Dean Bulmer’s powerful Mitsubishi Evolution.

But shortly after bragging about her high-speed antics to friends she veered on to the wrong side of the road and ploughed into an oncoming car.

Mr Bulmer, who had handed her the keys to his ‘pride and joy’, died in the crash on a winding country road.

A court heard how the father-of-three was travelling in the front passenger seat of the Mitsubishi when the tragedy happened on April 14 last year.

Watson, who met the 32-year-old through an internet site for car enthusiasts, suffered multiple leg fractures and was unconscious for six days.

Today she stood on crutches in the dock and wept as a jury at Leicester Crown Court found her guilty of causing death by dangerous driving.

Remanding her in custody to await sentencing next month, Judge Philip Head said: ‘I take the view a custodial sentence is absolutely inevitable.’

Her trial heard how on the day of the smash the couple met with friends before heading in a convoy for a car buffs’ get-together in Nottingham.

Powerful: A Mitsubishi Evolution like the one driven by Ms Watson

When no-one else turned up the group decided to drive down the M1 to Fosse Park, Leicester, where owners of souped-up cars often met.

After spending some time there the convoy then headed back to Loughborough, Leics, with Watson again at the wheel of the Mitsubishi.

She was driving along the B591 Copt Oak Road, near Markfield, Leicestershire, when she suddenly lost control on a bend and careered into a Ford Mondeo driven by an off-duty policeman.

Giving evidence, Watson claimed she was distracted by quarry worker Mr Bulmer leaning across her to dim the beam and urging her to ‘floor it’.

She told the court: ‘He told me to put my foot down. He wanted me to feel the power. But I was too scared - I believed I couldn’t handle it.’

But 16-year-old Daniel Jordan, a rear-seat passenger in the car, insisted Mr Bulmer was actually pleading with his girlfriend to slow down.

The teenager claimed he saw the speedometer register 150mph on the M1 and claimed the journey along Copt Oak Road ‘felt like’ 120mph.

He added: ‘We were swerving all over the road. When we hit the other car I passed out. Sam was saying sorry - that’s all I can remember.’

Jeff Gibbs, a passenger in another car in the convoy, also told the court Watson ‘bragged’ of having reached 150mph earlier in the day.

Crash investigators were able to estimate from ‘crumple’ damage that at the point of impact the Mitsubishi was travelling at around 30mph.

The Ford’s driver, Det Sgt Simon Cure, of Leicestershire police, said: ‘The car came out of the bend and snaked into my lane and all over the place.

‘It came very quickly, at a vast rate of knots. It was abnormally quick around the bend, going from side to side. It was completely out of control.’

Watson, of Tamworth, Staffordshire, denied causing the death of Mr Bulmer, of Barrow-upon-Soar, Leicestershire, by driving dangerously.

After the verdict the court heard she was not even insured to drive the Mitsubishi - one of the most popular models among fans of performance cars.

Members of both Watson’s and Mr Bulmer’s families were in court to hear the verdict but were too upset to comment after the hearing.