Two strangers who killed a mother and her four-year-old daughter while they raced their high-performance cars along a city centre road have been jailed.

Justyna Hulboj, 27, and her daughter, Lena Czepczor, were walking to the girl’s nursery in Leeds when they were hit by a white Audi TT on the A61 Scott Hall Road on 16 January 2023.

The driver of the Audi, Hardeep Bhachu, admitted two counts of causing death by dangerous driving.

Jasskamal Riyat, who was driving a black BMW 135i closely behind, denied racing but was found guilty of the same offences at a trial earlier this year.

At Leeds Crown Court on Monday, Judge Ray Singh jailed Bhachu for 12 years and Riyat for 16 years.

The judge told the pair: “A road is not a racetrack. A powerful car is not an invitation to test its limits on a public road.

“The consequences of competitive driving at extreme speed can be, and in this case were, irreversible.

“Two people died.

“One of them was a 27-year-old mother, the other was her four-year-old daughter.

“They had done nothing wrong; they were simply walking to school.”

Judge Singh said: “Two families must now live with a loss that can never be undone.

“Justyna and Lena should have gone to school that morning.

“They should have returned home.

“They should have continued with their lives.

“Instead, their lives ended on a pavement because two drivers chose to drive in a manner which placed speed and competition above the safety of everyone around them.

“Nothing this court can do can restore those lives.”

Judge Singh described how Bhachu and Riyat’s vehicles came alongside each other at traffic lights in the morning rush hour traffic, shortly after the roundabout at Stainbeck Lane and Scott Hall Road on the A61.

When the two drivers stopped at another red light, a conversation between them was captured on the Audi’s dashcam in which they discussed the performance and horsepower of their respective vehicles, the judge said.

They then travelled in convoy, weaving around the traffic and stopping only at red lights.

At the final traffic lights before the collision, the judge said, Riyat used his mobile telephone to film Bhachu before both vehicles accelerated away.

Judge Singh said that, about 65m before the collision, the Audi was travelling at about 89mph, in an urban environment where the 40mph speed limit was transitioning to 30mph.

Riyat remained following the Audi “at substantial speed”.

The judge said Bhachu lost control of the Audi which mounted the pavement and collided with Ms Hulboj and Lena causing them fatal injuries.

He told the court: “They had stopped for a moment on the pavement, with Justyna helping her little daughter with her coat.

“At that moment, neither of them could possibly have anticipated what was about to happen.”

The judge said: “This was not a momentary lapse of concentration.

“It was driving at a speed which created an obvious and grave risk of losing control and causing catastrophic injury or death.”

Riyat fled the scene.

The judge said that until reading references and other materials supplied to the court on Monday, it still seemed to him that Riyat was not accepting responsibility and blamed Bhachu for what happened.

Susannah Proctor, for Bhachu, told the court that her client was a “normal person who’s made a massive mistake”.

She said he “must live himself in the knowledge of the devastation he has caused.”

And she said: “He did not intend to cause this devastation but cause it he has.”

Ms Hulboj’s fiancé Dominik Czepczor watched the sentencing hearing in court.

A statement from him was read, which said: “My whole world collapsed in one second.”

Mr Czepczor said: “Every day I feel a huge void after their departure.”

And he said: “We had so many hopes and dreams and in one moment it all ended.”

Mr Czepczor said: “My dream was to have a wonderful family, and I must say that it came true for a short while, but that was taken away from me on January 16.

“Unfortunately, all that remains are wonderful memories and a constant fight for the next day, which is not easy.”