A learner driver has been jailed after he killed his fiancees sister in a crash just hours after she was told she had 18 months to live.
Anthony Grimmond lost control of his car when he was driving with Leanna Culver – who had earlier been diagnosed with ischaemic heart disease – as his passenger.
How old is Alfie Evans and what illness does he have – his story explained
The 27-year-old then veered across the road and struck a telegraph pole, breaking it in half.
The automatic Renault Clio bore the brunt of the collision on the passenger side and ended up on its roof.
Miss Culver, who was 20, died of head injuries at the scene.
Grimmond was giving Miss Culver a lift to her home in Gravesend, Kent, when the fatal smash occurred just after 11pm on March 15 last year.
AdvertisementAdvertisement
The pair had met up after she told him she needed to talk following her diagnosis earlier that day, Maidstone Crown Court in Kent heard.
Man's ear ripped almost clean off in attempted carjacking
However, Grimmond only held a provisional licence, having had just 10 driving lessons in a manual vehicle, was uninsured and had no L plates.
He had smoked a cannabis joint that morning, although prosecutor Rowan Jenkins said the level in his blood at the time of the crash was below the legal limit, and taken an overdose of 28 anti-depressants the previous day.
He later told police an animal veered across his path and he lost control as he first steered to avoid it and then, as he went to brake, hit the accelerator in panic.
Woman cut out her own breast using scalpel, Dettol and a YouTube tutorial
But the court heard that during an exercise break while in police custody after his arrest Grimmond told an officer: It was my sister-in-law in that car, you know.
She was given 18 months to live yesterday. I took her life yesterday.
Grimmond was engaged to Miss Culvers sister Chloe at the time and they now have a child together.
But in a moving statement to the court Chloe spoke of how she did not blame him for the fatal collision.
She said: On Wednesday, March 15 2017, my life changed forever. I have never been the same since the passing of my sister and this is the same for my aunt and my grandmother who has dementia.
Someone keeps taking bites out of raw Sainsbury's pizza
Two years ago we lost our mother Verity to a heart condition. It still affects me and now I am grieving for my sister.
In the last 12 months Tony and I have had a daughter and she will never know her aunt Leanna. Not only has she lost an aunt but also a father.
AdvertisementAdvertisement
I dont want people to think that I feel bad or blame Tony. I know he didnt mean this to happen and it was an accident. He knew he shouldnt have driven and will have to live with that for the rest of his life.
Miss Culver added she had accompanied Leanna when she was tested for her heart condition but did not manage to speak to her about the results.
Alfie Evans supporters' storm Alder Hey hospital after courts latest decision
Following the accident Tony told me Leanna had tested positive. To my knowledge the life expectancy is about 18 months, she said, before concluding: Our daughters life and mine will no longer be the same.
Grimmond had denied causing death by dangerous driving but changed his plea to guilty at the end of the prosecution case at his trial in February.
He had previously admitted the less serious offence of causing death by careless driving, as well as causing death by driving while unlicensed and while uninsured.
Jailing Grimmond today, Judge Charles Macdonald QC said it was a very sad and serious case, with the added poignancy that Miss Culver had been diagnosed with a serious heart condition.
More: UK
But the judge said although Grimmond suffered from emotionally unstable personality disorder and may have been mentally paralysed as a result of the tragedy, his remorse was limited as he had been determined to fight
the prosecution case.
Judge Macdonald added: It may be that an animal run into the carriageway which he was attempting to avoid, but what is clear is that his actions in steering and using the accelerator were ultimately wrong in the circumstances and caused the vehicle to leave the road.
Britain braced for snow again just days after baking in heatwave
His lack of qualification and experience were causative factors… On the one hand his decision to drive at all may have been affected by his illness.
Advertisement
On the other hand, an experienced driver would have recognised this.
Kieron Moroney, defending, said Grimmond was devastated and full of remorse.
More: UK
He was an inexperienced driver who shouldnt have been on the road and comes across an unexpected hazard. It is unfortunate he didnt plead (guilty) earlier.
Perhaps it was a situation where he wasnt facing up to reality and to what he had done, he added.
He was jailed for jailed for three years and four months.
AdvertisementAdvertisement
[contf]
[contfnew]
METRO
[contfnewc]
[contfnewc]
