Business owner Matthew Cobden has been sentenced a jail term of 18 months for the death of 13-year-old Alexander Worth, who was a passenger of his £1.2m Ferrari F50 when the car crashed.

The case has been going on for almost two years as the death and crash happened on 22nd August 2016.

Cobden owned a car storage business allegedly housing over 160 cars including many performance, sports cars.

It has been revealed that on the day of the crash, Justin Smith – who sold car batteries to Cobden – brought his partner Arabella Worth as well as her son Alexander, who later wanted to take a picture with the F50.

The car storage owner went the extra mile and offered the 13-year-old a ride in his red Ferrari.

It has been concluded that the crash and death was caused as a result of the driver trying to “show off” to the 13-year-old who wasn’t wearing a seatbelt moments before his tragic end.

The 39-year-old drove at 50mph and accelerated uncontrollably, causing the car to crash into a fence post and launching it into the air.

Both were thrown from the vehicle with only Alexander being the victim of the driver’s stupidity.

Both the judge and prosecutor criticised Cobden for his actions on the night, reminding him that they were not able to bring the teenager back to his parents.

Shortly after the sentencing, Alexander’s family talked about their grief in a statement.

They Said: “The outcome of this trial will not bring Alexander back but we hope the media coverage has in some way increased awareness of the fragility of life and the danger of driving powerful cars for however short a journey, and the necessity of adhering to all sensible safety measures.”

A report from the Department for Transport shows that in 2016, more than 180,000 casualties were caused by reckless driving.

The sentencing definitely needed to be harsher for Cobden and despite the increase in road safety campaigns, more needs to be done to insure the safety of young people in situations like these.

Photo by Matt Antonioli on Unsplash

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