Risk news

A delivery driver who killed four members of one family after dozing at the wheel just hours after drinking and partying was jailed for seven years today.

Scott Easton, who was sentenced at Teesside Crown Court, was also banned from driving for seven years. The 23-year-old's Ford Transit van clipped the back of the family's Citroen Saxo car, causing it to spin out of control and collide with trees on a stretch of the A1 in March of this year.

Paula Gilbert, 29, Neil Jex, 37, and two of their sons - Tristan, aged three, and seven-month-old Kaiden - all died at the scene while, eight-year-old son Macauley survived after he was flown to the James Cook Memorial Hospital on Teesside by the Yorkshire Air Ambulance.

The court was told Easton accepted the blame for the tragedy and heard that he should never have gone to work having had at least five pints of lager and a vodka in a pub before going to a party then having around just three hours sleep before starting work. Tests showed that at the time of the incident he would have been over the legal drink drive limit.

The court was also told that work colleagues commented on what a terrible state he was in and asked him if he was feeling OK before he set off on his rounds delivering newspapers in the North Yorkshire area. The tragedy happened near the village of Kirkby Feltham.

'Dangerously inattentive'
At a hearing in September, Easton pleaded guilty at Teesside Crown Court to four counts of causing death by dangerous driving. Today he returned to court for sentencing, where a packed courtroom heard details of his drinking and partying the night before the tragedy.

Easton, from Rushyford Avenue, Stockton on Tees, was told by Judge David Bryant that there were a number of aggravating factors and that the starting point for sentencing was 10 years minus a third off for his early guilty plea.

His barrister, Tim Roberts QC, told the court: "It is accepted that through drowsiness, that may have been a product of either lack of sleep or alcohol, or a combination of both he was dangerously inattentive to his road positioning.

"He should never have got behind the wheel of his van that day. He should have had the maturity and good sense to walk away from work and acknowledge he was not fit to drive."

Andrew Dallas, QC, prosecuting, told the court that Easton was drowsy at the time of the crash having been drinking in Stockton town centre before going to a house party until around at least 2am. Phone records showed he had then received various text messages, which he had acknowledged.

'Stark warning'
After the hearing, Sergeant Les Moorhouse, of North Yorkshire Police, said: "This tragic case has highlighted the very clear dangers of the 'work hard/play hard' lifestyle of some people who put in long hours during the day before going out drinking in the evenings until the early hours.

"They then wake up with minimal sleep and, still feeling the worse for wear, jump behind the wheel of a vehicle to start the working day all over again.

"Not only is there the serious issue of tiredness and lack of sleep that dramatically reduces concentration and ability to drive, but there is also the fact that alcohol - and drugs - do remain in people's systems from the night before. In this case, Easton was still over the limit to drive."

He added: "North Yorkshire Police and the family hope this case acts as a stark warning to people who foolishly take these risks and live this lifestyle."