Driver running from police on wrong side of road before killing woman, unborn child

RUNNING from the police and driving the wrong way down Newcastle Road, Leeton Bates crashed head-on with a car coming the other way, killing one woman and causing the death of another woman's unborn child.

It was a tragedy as avoidable as it was chaotic.

Bates appeared in Newcastle Local Court on Wednesday via audio visual link from jail where he admitted to causing the two deaths and seriously injuring the unborn child's mother.

He will be sentenced in Newcastle District Court at a later date.

According to an agreed statement of facts, Bates was at a house at Wallsend on the night of June 21 last year when he and three teenagers got in a white Holden Commodore and went for a drive.

It was about 2.35am the next morning when a police officer on a motorbike spotted the Commodore and remembered it from a previous incident.

He began following the car east along Newcastle Road and checks revealed the car had stolen number plates.

He radioed in the incident and put on his lights and siren as Bates accelerated away on the wrong side of the road.

Due to the dangerous manner of driving, the police officer turned off his lights and stopped actively following the car, according to court documents.

A short time later, two other police officers in a four-wheel-drive were heading west on Newcastle Road when the Commodore came past them on the wrong side of the road.

Police began following, but determined it was unsafe to activate their lights.

Dashcam footage and CCTV cameras then captured Bates driving west on Newcastle Road on the incorrect side of the road, with police about 10 seconds behind.

At the same time, two women were in a Hyundai Elantra and on their way to John Hunter Hospital to visit a friend.

They were in the left lane when Bates suddenly appeared in front of them coming the other way at speed near the intersection of Arthur Street.

The woman behind the wheel slowed her car down to about 10km/h to avoid the Commodore, but he crashed into the front driver's side of the Elantra.

A crime scene officer later opined he was travelling between 82km/h and 87km/h in a 60km/h zone.

A number of residents near the scene were woken by the sound of the crash and went outside to see one of Bates's passengers fleeing on foot.

Bates fled too, walking about a kilometre to a house where he called for a lift.

He told the person who picked him up he had a sore arm and that he was driving the Commodore when the police tried to pull him over and he crashed.

Meanwhile, the 54-year-old passenger in the Elantra suffered significant injuries and, despite the best efforts of police and paramedics, died at the scene.

The 27-year-old driver was 25 weeks pregnant and was rushed to the intensive care unit of John Hunter Hospital.

She had suffered serious abdominal injuries with internal bleeding, causing the death of her unborn child.

Bates remained on the run for two days before he was arrested at a house at Mayfield on June 24.

Police would later find his DNA on the airbag of the Commodore.

Prosecutors said the fatal crash was aggravated by the fact that Bates was fleeing a pursuit at the time and even though the official chase had been terminated for safety reasons, he was still being followed by police and continued to drive at speed and on the wrong side of the road for eight minutes after the initial pursuit.

Bates on Wednesday pleaded guilty to aggravated dangerous driving occasioning death - escaping pursuit, aggravated dangerous driving occasioning grievous bodily harm and aggravated dangerous driving causing loss of fetus.

He is looking at a lengthy stint behind bars when he is sentenced in Newcastle District Court, likely in early 2027.