Two ‘show-off’ motorists who raced each other at speeds of more than 80mph in high-powered Audis have been jailed for causing the deaths of a young couple by dangerous driving.

Aaron Jones, 19, and his girlfriend Amy Hobson, 22, died after the smash on the A580 East Lancashire Road in Swinton, Salford, in June.

Steven Ward, 26, of South Avenue, Swinton, and Carl Wood, 27, of St James Street in Farnworth, Bolton, were driving ‘aggressively and competitively’ against each other before the crash.

They were ‘overtaking and undertaking’ other cars at high speed and ‘racing red lights’, Manchester Crown Court was told.

Ward was driving an Audi S3 and and Wood an Audi RS3. Both cars passed through three junctions from the East Lancashire Road’s junction with the M60 motorway before the fatal smash at the junction with Barton Road.

One witness said she saw one of the cars ‘spinning its wheels’ as it accelerated away from traffic lights. She told police in a statement: “It was all so pointless and so preventable. Both drivers were racing...it felt like they were competing against each other.”

Another witness said the speed of one Audi as it passed made her car ‘rock’. A third said both Audis were ‘going for every possible gap’ and playing ‘cat and mouse’ with each other as they manoeuvred for position and weaved in and out of Sunday traffic at more than twice the 40mph speed limit.

Aaron and Amy, who both worked at McDonalds in Pendlebury, were returning home from a day trip to Southport. Aaron was driving his Vauxhall Corsa when it was struck by the Audi S3 Ward was driving. Aaron was turning right onto Barton Road.

The aftermath of the crash on the A580

Ward’s car then struck the Audi RS3 and passers-by rushed to help. Aaron sadly died at the scene and Amy died later in hospital. She leaves a three-year-old boy, Alfie.

Aaron's parents have since revealed they are taking legal action against Wood and Ward.

Judge Michael Henshall said Aaron could do nothing to avoid the smash. Both Ward and Wood pleaded guilty to two counts of causing death by dangerous driving.

Ward, who has a previous conviction for stealing a car, was jailed for nine years.

Wood, twice convicted previously for dangerous driving and drink-driving, was also jailed for nine years with a further period of five years on licence. It means he will serve a minimum of six years behind bars.

Aaron and Amy

Both men showed no emotion as they were led away as the family’s of Aaron and Amy looked on from the public gallery.

Judge Henshall viewed CCTV footage of the moment of impact and sending both men down, called the collision ‘the most appalling tragedy’.

He told Wood and Ward: “You demonstrated a decision to ignore the fact the you were on a public road.

“Two lives were extinguished for for your selfish and lethal pleasure.”

The judge added that the families would have to live for the rest of their lives without the presence of their loved ones and said Alfie, Amy’s three-year-old, would ‘grow up without memory of her mother’.

The funeral of Aaron and Amy

He said: “It is perfectly clear that you regarded other road users as obstruction as you competed against each other to show off for the pleasure of the moment. It was an appalling impact and it was unsurvivable.”

The judge branded Wood a danger to other road users in the future and both men were disqualified from driving for nine years.