Keira Ridler, of Hampson Avenue in Wrexham, appeared at Mold Crown Court on Thursday morning to hear her sentence.
The 26-year-old, of Marlborough Road in Ellesmere Port, had admitted two counts of causing serious injury by dangerous driving at an earlier hearing.
Ryan Rothwell, prosecuting, told the court that on the evening of September 19, 2021, a car meet for car enthusiasts was taking place in Cheshire Oaks.
There were approximately 200 vehicles present.
Later that evening, an unknown person posted an advertisement on social media for ‘Mexico’. This term comes from the American auto racing world and refers to an illegal race in which participants race illegally or otherwise drive illegally.
The location of that second car meeting was the Manor Industrial Estate in Flint.
There were many vehicles present, as well as over 100 pedestrians gathered on the sidewalks surrounding the site.
CCTV footage shows what happened that evening: several vehicles tore along a straight road at a speed of 48 km/h.
Ridler was seen driving back and forth in her Nissan Juke. She was not racing other vehicles, but was driving at high speeds.
The first victim, Ellie Blower, was in a VW Golf that was slowly pulling out of a T-junction.
Ridler collided with the Golf despite several evasive manoeuvres.
Analysis of the camera footage showed that she was travelling at a speed of between 80 and 185 km/h. At the time of impact, the speed was probably between 95 and 110 km/h.
The court heard a defence argument, accepted by the Public Prosecution Service, that Ridler was driving at the low end of the speed scale.
The second victim, Christopher Rakeshaw, was about to use his phone at the time.
He remembers hearing screeching tires and then being hit.
Mr. Rakeshaw came to on the ground, some distance from where he had been standing.
He was in a coma for a week and a half, suffering “catastrophic” injuries.
After months in hospital, it was determined that the now 26-year-old is tetraplegic: he can no longer use his arms and legs.
He now lives in a modified bungalow with a team of six carers who provide him with 24/7 care, a care he will probably need for the rest of his life.
The court heard that immediately after the shooting he “begged people in the crowd to kill him” because he did not want to live with the injuries he believed he had sustained.
Mrs Blower suffered multiple injuries in the crash, including a broken ankle, leg, wrist and severe abdominal bruising.
Eight months after the incident, she was still unable to put weight on her ankle and required numbing injections to control the pain, which lasted until 11 months after the crash.
Ridler herself suffered whiplash and a displaced collarbone in the incident, and her passenger suffered a broken wrist.
During questioning, the suspect admitted that she was driving faster than 30 miles per hour, but that it was not significant.
She denied that she was ‘speeding’ and initially denied that her behaviour constituted dangerous driving.
Initially, she also blamed the driver of the VW Golf for the collision.
Richard Dawson, defending, told the court: “It is clear that this was a tragic case with catastrophic consequences for everyone involved in the events of that night.
“We naturally extend our condolences to the victims who were seriously injured, in particular Mr Rakeshaw.
“Honestly, you can’t imagine more serious injuries that didn’t result in death.
“This is a young lady with a good character and an otherwise clean driver’s license.
“We are fast approaching the third anniversary of the collision and for a young lady dealing with this, events and life have moved on – resulting in her pregnancy.
“Whatever sentence this court ultimately imposes, it will be nothing compared to the separation from her young child, who is now only 15 months old.”
He said his client attended the meeting because of her “passion for cars.”
“They were all present at what we must consider an illegal car gathering,” he said.
“Mrs. Ridler rode in that competition.
“This was an unusual occurrence for her in every respect, as her record shows that she is generally a prudent driver.
“She is extremely sad and wants to apologize for everything that happened.”
Judge Niclas Parry told Ridler: “Your aim there was to show off and attract attention.
“That’s what you did, you were driving 48 km/h, way over the speed limit.
“There was an unavoidable collision and the consequences can only be described as catastrophic.”
The judge imposed a total sentence of 20 months and then took the court through his thinking process on whether the sentence could be conditional.
Ridler wept in the dock and concluded that the case was simply too serious and that the prison sentence should be served immediately.
A driving ban of two years and ten months was imposed.