Derbyshire man with 44 previous offences jailed for his part in crash which killed another man aged 26

Kyle Buckley, 30, had numerous previous motoring convictions including failing to stop after an accident when the collision which killed Jordan Sheehy, 26, happened, Derby Crown Court heard.

On July 1 last year Buckley, had taken his partner’s VW Tiguan without her permission when he began overtaking Mr Sheehy on White Lane, Ridgeway.

As Mr Sheehy lost control of his Vauxhall Mokka he hit a stone wall, flipped and was thrown from the vehicle.

During the crash his arm was amputated and he was later pronounced dead at the scene.

However, an accident investigator said Eckington defendant Buckley was still mid-way through his manoeuvre when Mr Sheehy accelerated, also trying to overtake.

As a result, there was collision between Mr Sheehy’s Mokka and the Tiguan Buckley was driving.

The court heard Mr Sheehy was “impaired” by “illicit substances” at the time, which was the “main reason for the collision”.

The victim’s sister said in a victim statement read out to court that her brother was “no saint” but “did not deserve what happened to him”.

She described how her family was informed Mr Sheehy was dead when they arrived at hospital and he could only be identified by his tattoos.

Following the crash, Buckley, 30, fled the scene. He handed himself in to the police three days later.

The court heard Buckley had 44 previous offences for 22 convictions and had been stopped by police just eight months earlier while driving unlicensed and uninsured.

After fleeing police on foot during the Clay Cross incident he was later found hiding in some bramble bushes.

The defendant had previous convictions for driving unlicensed and uninsured, aggravated vehicle taking and failing to stop after an accident, the court heard.

Buckley’s defence barrister said an accident investigator had been unable to conclude exactly how the two cars had collided.

However, she said evidence showed Buckley was part-way through overtaking Mr Sheehy when the victim “performed his own overtake coming from the rear of the defendant”.

She said: “The defendant should have cut short his overtake and pulled back into his own carriageway."

She added that Mr Sheehy was “impaired” by “illicit substances” at the time, which was the “main reason for the collision”.

Speaking about the defendant, the barrister said Buckley lived with “enormous guilt that someone is no longer living and he played a part in that”.

Buckley, of John Street, Eckington, admitted causing death by careless driving, causing serious injury by careless driving, driving unlicensed and uninsured, failing to stop after an accident and aggravated vehicle taking,

Judge Jonathan Bennett said: “Lives have been devastated as a result of what took place on White Lane that day.

"Nothing this court can do can provide any relief for the pain all those involved feel.”

Referring to the collision investigator’s report, the judge told: "I do not accept for a second that you did not know something pretty awful had happened”, the judge noted a “substantial mitigation” was that “the actions of the victim contributed significantly to what took place”.

Buckley was jailed for three years and eight months and banned from driving for six years and eight months.