Two "idiot" brothers left a teenage girl critically injured while racing each other at 90mph, a court has heard.

Harrison Taylor, 19, and his 21-year-old brother Henry were racing on the Sandbanks peninsula in Poole, Dorset, when the incident happened at around 1am on Boxing Day in 2023. Harrison was in a Mercedes A200 and his older brother in a BMW 135i. The court heard the brothers had been gifted the powerful cars to help them get over their parents splitting up.

The court heard Harrison was going "pedal to the metal" when he lost control of the Mercedes on a bend and collided with a gatepost of a multi-million pound mansion. The BMW then ploughed into the back of the Mercedes, sending it flying forwards into a garden wall.

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Mia Savage, a front seat passenger in the Mercedes, was trapped in the crumpled vehicle and had to be cut free from the wreckage as her mother, who had been called to the scene of the accident, watched on. The girl, who was 17 at the time, was airlifted to hospital with life-changing injuries that included a shattered left femur, a fractured neck, broken arm, eight broken ribs and severe internal bleeding from a severed spleen, split diaphragm and liver laceration.

The teen underwent hours of complex surgery and was in an induced coma for a week. She was then in traction for her arms and one of her legs and had a fixed neck brace for 12 weeks.

She also lost out on a sports scholarship at the private Clayesmore School due to her injury. Following her ordeal, she was unable to return to school for months and ended up with lesser grades which meant she was not accepted at her chosen university.

The two brothers pleaded guilty to causing serious injury by dangerous driving and arrived at Bournemouth Crown Court today, but they avoided being sent to jail. Judge Robert Pawson let them off with suspended sentences due to their young ages and previous good character. He banned them from driving for three years.

Miss Savage's mother Karen Bulgarelli, a lawyer, said she was disappointed with the outcome. She said: "They have ruined three people's lives but they are all clapping each other on the back that they're walking out."

The court heard Taylor brothers and four friends had been at a property on nearby Canford Cliffs Road when they decided to go for a ride around Sandbanks in three vehicles. The third car was a VW Polo driven by Reuben Smith, whose father works for Mercedes F1. Miss Savage went to get into the Polo but switched to Harrison's Mercedes when he shouted out: "Don't leave me on my own."

In a victim impact statement, she said: "I wish every day that I had stayed in the car with Reuben and not joined Harrison." The group set off in convoy but the Polo struggled to keep up with the other two more powerful cars which were travelling at between 80-90mph on the 30mph road. Harrison, who was 17 at the time, lost control moments later.

Miss Savage said in her statement: "I recall drifting in and out of consciousness while waiting. I remember excruciating pain in my chest and not being able to breathe, feeling like I was suffocating." Her mother described the "parent's worst nightmare" of rushing to the scene and having to sit on a wall 20ft away waiting for updates as her daughter was extracted from the car.

She said: "They told me to prepare myself, her injuries were very serious and life-threatening. Every time they came with an update I was expecting them to say they had lost her. Thankfully that did not happen." She described seeing her daughter before surgery as "shocking".

She said: "Her damaged organs were pushed up into her left chest cavity. Every surgery was critical. It's quite incredible what the teams did that saved her life that day. Mia is a very determined young lady. Against every odds she survived but still has a long road of recovery. She cannot talk about the accident, she shuts down completely."

Miss Savage said she suffers flashbacks and was diagnosed with PTSD, she was also left with permanent visible scarring and underwent months of physiotherapy. She said they had been a close group of friends before the accident, but some of those friendships had "completely broken down".

The court heard that the Taylors were tested at the scene and were negative for drugs and alcohol. Harrison told police at the scene he clipped the kerb, hit a wall and blanked out. Henry told police he estimated his speed at 34-35mph and claimed he came around the corner and was unable to avoid hitting his brother's car, which the judge dismissed as "nonsense".

Harrison, a property consultant for an estate agents, and Henry, a barber, both live with their dad Rob Taylor in posh Dorset Lake Avenue, a stone's throw from the Sandbanks peninsula. Guy Ladenburg, defending Henry, said their misfortune was "purely their own fault" and it was "tragic" the path Mia's life had taken because of their actions.

He said it was the "height of recklessness and irresponsibility" maybe fuelled by their sense of teenage invulnerability. The judge told the brothers they were idiots, selfish and immature and were lucky Mia had not died or they would be looking at more than a decade in prison.

He also said whoever had bought the immature teenagers cars with 300 and 150 horsepower showed a "distinct lack of foresight". Judge Pawson said: "Boxing Day two years ago was a defining moment in the life of Mia Savage, a blameless young woman. You two, then aged 17 and 19, driving cars far too powerful for your experience or ability, you are not victims. You have potentially ruined another human being's life with your actions, selfishness and immaturity.

"Any parent couldn't help but shudder to imagine the scene Mia's mother arrived to discover. Why did that all happen? Because you two were driving those idiotically overpowered cars and decided to race each other. Harrison, a few seconds prior to impact your foot was pressed 100 per cent, pedal to the metal, between 80-90mph. You're an idiot. Cases like this have no winners, only losers."

He described the impact on Miss Savage as "appalling" and "hair-raising" consequences of their "staggering stupidity and selfishness" and slammed the brothers lack of courage and honour for not admitting what they did sooner. But ultimately due to their age, immaturity, previous good character and guilty pleas, the two brothers were given an 18-month suspended sentence. The judge also banned them from driving for three years and gave them a 14-month tagged curfew between 8pm and 6am.