A fun night out with friends turned into a horrifying accident for a young girl on Dorset’s Sandbanks peninsula, leaving her with life-changing injuries while two brothers who caused the crash have avoided jail.
Harrison Taylor, 19, and his older brother Henry, 21, were racing in cars gifted to them by their parents—a misguided attempt to help the brothers cope with their family split.
Harrison was behind the wheel of a Mercedes A200, with Henry tailing him in a BMW 135i.
Boxing Day Crash Sparks Horror
The pair were driving at high speed late on Boxing Day 2023 when Harrison lost control of the Mercedes.
His car slammed into a gatepost outside a multimillion-pound mansion in Poole.
Henry’s BMW then collided with Harrison’s car, sending it crashing into a garden wall.
Mia Savage, a 17-year-old passenger in the Mercedes, was trapped inside and had to be cut free by emergency crews.
She was airlifted to hospital with devastating injuries, including a shattered femur, fractured neck, broken arm, eight broken ribs, and severe internal damage to her spleen, diaphragm, and liver.
She spent a week in an induced coma and required complex surgery to survive.
Lost Opportunities and Long-Term Impact
The accident had lasting consequences for Mia.
She missed months of education, losing a chance at a sports scholarship at Clayesmore School and being unable to start at her chosen university.
Mia also developed PTSD, underwent months of physiotherapy, and now bears permanent scars.
In her own words, she struggles to even talk about the incident and suffers frequent flashbacks.
The Brothers’ Reckless Actions
The court heard that the brothers had been at a property near Canford Cliffs Road with four friends when they decided to race around Sandbanks in three cars.
Mia had initially planned to ride with a friend in a VW Polo but switched to Harrison’s Mercedes after he shouted, “don’t leave me on my own.”
The Mercedes and BMW were travelling at speeds of 80–90mph on a road with a 30mph limit.
Harrison, who works as a property consultant, admitted hitting the curb, colliding with a wall, and blanking out.
Henry, a barber, claimed he couldn’t avoid his brother’s car while rounding a corner—an explanation the judge later called “nonsense.”
Both tested negative for drugs and alcohol at the scene.
Court Reaction and Sentencing
Despite the severity of Mia’s injuries, Judge Robert Pawson gave the brothers suspended sentences, citing their young ages, guilty pleas, and previous good character.
Instead, Harrison and Henry received an 18-month suspended sentence, a three-year driving ban, and a 14-month tagged curfew between 8pm and 6am.
Judge Pawson did not mince words about their behavior, calling them “selfish, immature, and idiotic” and stressing that they were lucky Mia survived.
He criticized whoever bought the teenagers cars with 150 and 300 horsepower, saying it reflected a “distinct lack of foresight.”
Victim’s Family Speaks Out
Mia’s mother, lawyer Karen Bulgarelli, described the sentencing as deeply disappointing.
She recalled the moment she arrived at the crash scene and saw her daughter being cut from the wreckage: “Every update I got, I was expecting to hear the worst.
Thankfully, she survived—but the trauma has been immense.”
Karen described watching her daughter’s surgery as “shocking,” revealing that Mia’s organs had been pushed into her chest cavity.
“Every surgery was critical. It’s incredible what the medical teams did to save her life,” she said.
Judge Highlights Irresponsibility
The judge emphasized that the accident had no winners: “Cases like this have no winners, only losers,” he said.
He stressed the life-altering consequences of the brothers’ actions and highlighted the sheer recklessness of teenage racing with overpowered vehicles.
Judge Pawson called out the brothers for lacking courage and responsibility, criticizing them for not admitting the full truth sooner.
He summed up the incident as “staggering stupidity and selfishness” that could have ended a young life.
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