Tingewick biker who reached 178mph before fatal crash is jailed

A motorcyclist who reached 178mph (286km/h) before a crash which killed his brother-in-law has been jailed for 15 months.

Mechanic Lewis Baker, 35, was badly hurt in the crash at Tingewick, Buckinghamshire, in 2023. Jason Wallis, 31, who was riding alongside him, died.

Baker admitted dangerous driving and was also given a 10-year driving ban at Aylesbury Crown Court.

Judge Jonathan Cooper told him: “The place for driving at extremely high speed is a race track and not the public road.”

Baker, of Tadmarton in Downhead Park, Milton Keynes, and Wallis, of Browns Wood, Milton Keynes, crashed their identical Yamaha R1 bikes into a car they were trying to pass on the A421 on 9 September 2023.

Wallis was trying to undertake and Baker, who broke a thigh bone, was trying to overtake.

Baker filmed their 40-minute journey and Wallis’s subsequent crash on a GoPro camera attached to his helmet.

The judge was told how camera evidence indicated that Baker hit a top speed of 178mph and was travelling at 120mph (193km/h) when the two riders crashed.

The judge said Baker’s riding was “as bad as it could be”.

He said Baker had “flipped” round his number plate, so it could not be easily detected, and was riding in a way “designed to avoid detection”.

Cooper said Wallis met his death when riding in “exactly the same” fashion as Baker.

Baker had told police that he had ridden in a similar fashion about “100 times” before, the judge heard.

Prosecuting barrister David Jones said Baker had no previous convictions – and appeared to have had a clean licence.