Driver was drunk from night before

Nov 3 2007 by Paul Watson, The Journal

A DELIVERY driver who killed four members of a Tyneside family after dozing at the wheel following a bout of drinking and partying was jailed for seven years yesterday.

Driver Scott Easton was also banned from driving for seven years after Teesside Crown Court heard how 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.

Paula Gilbert, 29, Neil Jex, 37, and two of their sons – Tristan, aged three, and seven-month-old Kaiden – all died at the scene. Only Ms Gilbert’s son Macauley – whose ninth birthday is today – survived after he was flown to the James Cook Memorial Hospital in Middlesbrough by the Yorkshire Air Ambulance.

Macauley went to court with other family members yesterday as Easton accepted the blame for the tragedy.

The court 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 heard 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, in North Yorkshire, on March 3.

At a hearing in September Easton pleaded guilty to four counts of causing death by dangerous driving.

Yesterday he returned to court for sentence, where a packed courtroom heard details of his drinking and partying the night before the tragedy.

Easton, from Rushyford Avenue, Stockton, 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 in the morning.

Phone records showed that he had then received various text messages which he had acknowledged.

He said: "We say he had a very limited amount of sleep and must have been well over the limit when he got up for work. He must have shown prolonged inattention or he could not have failed to see the vehicle in front of him.

"He was dozing at the wheel, a condition caused by a lack of sleep the previous night, and evidence demonstrates he was over the prescribed limit of alcohol."

The family were heading from their home in Bridlington Parade, Hebburn, South Tyneside, to Blackburn in Lancashire to see relatives when the crash happened.

After being clipped by Easton’s van their Citroen Saxo left the road on a stretch of the A1 southbound, between the junctions for Catterick and Leeming.

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.

"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."

A fundraising appeal launched by air ambulance paramedics, who were moved by Macauley’s plight, has raised more than £40,000. The little boy, who is now living with his grandparents, has since returned to school.

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Family slam lenient sentence

RELATIVES of Paula Gilbert and Neil Jex last night hit out at the sentence handed out to Scott Easton.

Macauley’s grandparents Don, 57, and Mary, 58, slammed the sentence.

Don said: "It should have been far longer. I was disgusted. If that’s British justice then you can keep it."

Mary said Macauley would be nine years old today.

She said: "Macauley was here at court with us but we did not take him into the actual court room itself.

"We thought it would be too distressing for him."

And on the tribute website gonetoosoon, members of the family also expressed their anger at the sentence.

A woman, who describes herself as Aunty Pauline, from Hebburn, wrote: ‘I’m so sorry that the justice system was a total letdown today.

‘I think all your lives were worth more than a seven-year jail sentence, I hope the next seven years is a living hell for him."