Amid the rush of panic she felt as the speeding Audi raced up behind her car, the motorist noticed something odd.
She would later recall how the young man and woman in the erratically driven vehicle had yellow balloons hanging from their mouths.
Minutes later, Brandon Williams had hit another car, causing it to spin out of control. His own hit the central reservation after a dangerous overtaking manoeuvre.
Two years later, a court heard that Williams, who had previously used nitrous oxide or ‘laughing gas’, as a recreational drug, was not using it himself but helping his female companion use it in the moments before the collision.
It was fortunate nobody was seriously hurt or killed, although one of the occupants of the car he hit told the court she thought she was about to die.
On Friday, the 24-year-old former Manchester United defender escaped jail after, in his own words to probation staff, “driving like an idiot”. He had pleaded guilty to dangerous driving and was sentenced to a 14-month suspended prison sentence, banned from driving for three years and ordered to do community service.
Williams joined Manchester United’s academy aged seven and played 51 games for the first team.
The defender had two spells on loan in the Championship, first with Norwich City during…
