Drink driver who left pub to get takeaway veered across road and killed dad
A man who drove a van after drinking several pints of beer swerved onto the wrong side of the road and killed a dad-of-four.
The driver Jake Calow and his friend Oliver McGowan, both 22 at the time, had been on their way to get a takeaway when they collided head-on with another van.
The passenger of the second van, Patrick Shortt, 57, suffered ‘catastrophic injuries’ and died at the scene. The driver, his best friend John Gillott, received a traumatic brain injury and fractures to his spine.
The Ford Transit van Calow was driving belonged to McGowan’s father, and the pair had taken it without permission.
Calow, who was uninsured, had passed his driving test just five months before.
Appearing at Winchester Crown Court Calow, of Syston in Leicestershire, was jailed for eight years.
McGowan, of East Goscote in Leicestershire, received a 12-month prison sentence suspended for two years, 250 hours of unpaid work and a curfew for three months.
The court heard Calow and McGowan, both roofers, had drunk at least four pints each at the Bel & The Dragon in Kingsclere, Berkshire on July 11 last year when they decided to get in the van and drive to buy a takeaway curry.
The court heard Calow had been spotted driving ‘like a d**k’, with the van swerving from side to side.
At 8.10pm the pair were travelling along a rural road in Brimpton Common when Calow veered onto the wrong side and hit Mr Gillot’s Volkswagen caddy.
Mr Shortt’s devastated wife Georgina Shortt told the court that they were expecting their first grandchild at the time.
Prosecutor Siobhan Linsley said Mr Shortt and Mr Gillott, who were also business partners, had been driving back from an acoustic guitar making class.
Ms Linsley said: ‘Patrick Shortt suffered catastrophic injuries from which he died at the scene.
‘John Gillott was very badly injured and had to have months of treatment. His injuries were life-changing.’
Ms Linsley added: ‘When asked, [Jake Callow] said he had a drink but not a lot.
‘He had no business driving that van. He was not insured on that van. Never did he have the permission of the owner – his co-defendant’s father.’
Calow and McGowan were both taken to hospital after the crash and blood tests found Calow’s blood alcohol level at the time of the crash was approximately 129mg/100ml blood – significantly higher than the legal limit of 80mg/100ml.
In a victim impact statement read to the court Mrs Shortt, from Woodley, Reading, Berkshire, said: ‘Patrick and I met in 1983.
‘From then on, we spent all of our free time together. We never wanted to be apart. We wanted to spend the rest of our lives together.
‘Family was everything to Patrick. He was a lovely, loving, caring and kind man.’
Mrs Shortt, whose husband died on their 30th wedding anniversary, said it felt like she’d been ‘punched in the stomach’ when she learnt her husband had been killed.
Calow, now 24 and a father of one boy, admitted causing death by dangerous driving and causing serious injury by dangerous driving – while under the influence of alcohol – causing a death whilst uninsured and aggravated vehicle taking.
McGowan, also now 24, admitted aggravated vehicle taking.
Jailing Calow, judge Jane Miller said: ‘Patrick and his wife had four children and he was clearly a wonderful father to all of them.
‘You were deeply irresponsible. No sentencing can begin to compensate for the loss of life or the very serious injury caused.
‘You did not care about the very obvious risk that you were taking.’
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