A driver who caused a fatal crash while rushing to work the morning after a cocaine-fuelled bender has been jailed for 12 years.
Joshua Eldred, 31, killed father-of-one Timothy Burgess and left his partner Wendy Wall with life-changing injuries when he ploughed head-on into their car on a Cheshire motorway earlier this year.
A court heard Eldred, a power station labourer from Northwich, was ‘living in his car’ while on bail after a hit-and-run crash in his Ford Focus just three weeks earlier during which he was 15 times over the drug-driving limit.
He woke up on July 18 after a night of heavy drinking and cocaine use with friends and almost immediately started driving when he realised he was late for work.
Analysis of Eldred’s phone suggested he’d had no more than five-and-a-half hours’ sleep and was repeatedly making calls around the time of the collision.
Prosecutor Miss Frances Willmott said: ‘He had been due in work at 8am but had not arrived.
‘He spoke to his employer at 9am to say that he was stuck in traffic but it appears from analysis of his phone that he had just woken up.
“When driving he was seen on CCTV to narrowly avoid a collision with a parked car and then whist stopped at temporary traffic lights he suddenly jumped forward and then stopped again despite the lights remaining on red. He was later seen weaving towards the centre line.
‘Eventually he followed closely behind a white van and looked as if he intended to overtake. But he was too close behind to see and had a near miss with a vehicle when pulling out onto the wrong side of the road.
‘When the van reached a 50mph section of road Eldred sped up went on the wrong side of the road and collided with the car driven by Wendy Wall.
‘Wendy estimated her speed to be 40-50mph and the speedometer on her car was frozen at 43mph. Calculations show that the pre-impact speed of Joshua Eldred’s vehicle was 65-70mph.’
Timothy, 48, who was in the passenger seat of Wendy’s Suzuki Celerio, died at the scene.
Wendy, also 48, suffered fractures of the neck, spine, pelvis, thighs and ribs, with her lungs partially collapsed or punctured. She suffered a stroke as a result and is still being treated in a rehabilitation unit.
Tests showed Eldred was just over the blood alcohol limit, two-and-a-half times the cocaine limit and 16 times over the limit for BZE, a compound used to test recent cocaine usage.
Adam Antoszkiw, defending, said his client’s mobile phone was fixed to the dashboard in front of him and that the phone was not in his hands while his making the phone calls.
Mr Antoszkiw added: ‘He is thoroughly aware and alive to the pain and suffering he has caused. Through me he expresses his profound remorse for his actions, moreover for the grief he has undoubtedly caused.
‘He has no recollection of the offence. It is only perhaps by the assistance of the call log is he able to piece together what he could have been doing on that day. Those phone calls were extremely short the vast majority were only one and two seconds.”
‘Essentially he was living in this car, pretending that he did not have a problem with drugs and trying to carry on and sadly we are here because of his actions. He never envisages getting behind the wheel of a car again.’
Eldred admitted causing death and serious injury by dangerous driving and was also banned from the roads for ten years after he’s released from jail.
During sentencing, Judge Steven Everett told him: ‘Now and then I see a case where a drug addict causes a huge danger and has a terrible effect on members of society. In this case here so many people have suffered.
‘There were you, having had some terrible night out, the previous night, drinking too heavily, and taking drugs even though you were supposed to be working.
‘Then your employer wondered where you are and in a completely impaired state you make the truly terrible decision to drive the car to get to work. Whilst driving you were impatient and wanted to get past that white van. You were not thinking about anybody else but yourself.
‘What I do not understand is you have what appears to be decent family background, are intelligent, a decent job, and just throw this all away and also throw other people’s lives away.
‘It was obviously a highly dangerous manoeuvre, pulling out when you could not see what was coming the other way. The prolonged use of a mobile phone undoubtedly affected your concentration even if it was not in your hand.’
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