Banned one-eyed driver with damaged leg jailed for killing mum in horror crash

A one-eyed bloke defied his driving ban to get again behind the wheel with a damaged leg solely to kill a mum in a horror crash.

Steven Michael Gaskell, 31, has now been jailed for greater than 5 years following the tragic dying of 23-year-old Courtney Donnelly on September 17 final 12 months. Gaskell had already been disqualified seven occasions when he determined to hit the highway in a Mini he snapped up for simply £400 on Facebook market earlier the identical day.

Not solely was Gaskell with out imaginative and prescient in a single eye and nursing a damaged leg, he although it was a good suggestion to take his younger girlfriend out for a drive with hashish in his system. Add to that the very fact he’d by no means handed a driving check – it wasn’t lengthy earlier than he misplaced management of the car and rolled it 60 metres down the highway.

READ MORE: Grimsby Town youth star, 16, dies with dad in horror crash as automobile submerged in water

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Emergency providers rushed to the scene close to Brampton Ash, Northants., however Courtney couldn’t be saved having suffered ‘catastrophic accidents’. Just 24 days earlier, Gaskell had been given a suspended jail time period after being caught behind the wheel of a car he had stolen.

The dad-of-two was taken to hospital and when arrested, he requested police why the courts all the time let him off. He stated: “Why do I always get away with it? She’s dead. I might as well be dead. I don’t want to be here anymore.”

Gaskell, of Corby, Northants., admitted causing death by driving while disqualified, possession with intent to supply cannabis and driving without insurance. He was jailed for five years and two months at Northampton Crown Court yesterday (Thurs).

Sentencing, Judge Rupert Mayo said: “It’s a disgrace it’s taken the dying of Courtney Donnelly to result in any type of understanding as to why you shouldn’t drive whereas disqualified.”

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The court docket was instructed Gaskell had been a banned driver for 11 years and had 53 convictions courting again to when he was 19. He was additionally the one man ever prosecuted in reference to the unsolved homicide of Les Ross after being charged with the housebreaking of Mr Ross’s home earlier than he died.

Prosecutor Andy Peet described Gaskell’s document as ‘appalling’. Mr Peet stated: “He’s addicted to driving while disqualified. It can’t be put more plainly than that.”

The court docket heard Gaskell had purchased the Mini Cooper at 6.30pm on September 17 final 12 months, and the accident occurred only a few hours later at 11pm. Gaskell had been driving on the A427 when he clipped the verge and rolled a number of occasions right into a discipline.

Mr Peet stated {that a} man who stopped on the scene phoned 999 however front-seat-passenger Courtney – mum to Lily-Mae, aged simply two – had been killed. In the footwell of the automobile was hashish and capsules, and two cell phones confirmed police that Gaskell was a drug supplier.

When Gaskell was discovered trapped within the entrance passenger seat, with a number of severe accidents, he instructed officers he thought the automobile will need to have been faulty.

He stated: “I’ve killed her, haven’t I? The automobile will need to have been dodgy. I felt her go just a few occasions. I shouldn’t have been driving whereas disqualified. She’s 23, she’s lifeless. What am I meant to do now. I’m going to jail. At least I can see with one eye.”

Experts who examined the automobile discovered nothing improper with the car.

Mr Peet added: “The fact he was driving a car while believing there was something wrong with the vehicle indicates his attitude towards driving cars. He simply doesn’t care.”