Man who took amphetamines killed four-week-old baby in crash
Harley Wilkinson was ejected from the vehicle after Craig Nunn, 40, crashed into the car after driving through a red light, a court heard.
A drug-driver was driving at “unconscionable” speed having taken amphetamines when he went through a red light and crashed into another car, killing a four-week-old baby, a court has heard.
Craig Nunn, 40, was jailed for 14 years at Worcester Crown Court on Friday for causing the death by dangerous driving of Harley Wilkinson and seriously injuring his father Jake Wilkinson in a crash in Worcestershire just after midnight on October 26 last year.
The court was told Nunn, of Sandy Lane in Stourport, was nearly two times the drug-drive limit in his Ford Focus when he smashed into a black Suzuki Vitara being driven by Harley’s mother Imogen Bradley.
Ms Bradley was driving home with her partner Mr Wilkinson after picking their son up from her sister’s home when the collision occurred as she turned from Walter Nash Way West onto the A451 in the direction of Stourport.
Prosecutor Cathlyn Orchard said Mr Wilkinson, having been “frustrated” trying to get Harley into his car seat, had him on his lap in the back seat for what should have been a short trip home.
Nunn, who was driving in the direction of Kidderminster, crashed into the rear offside of Ms Bradley’s car so hard having careered through a red light that her vehicle spun nearly 540 degrees and Harley was ejected out of the window and into the road.
Ms Orchard told the court it was Nunn who alerted Ms Bradley to Harley’s whereabouts, telling her: “Your baby is over there.”
Despite attempts to save his life, Harley suffered a severe traumatic brain injury and died at the scene while Mr Wilkinson suffered a cervical spine fracture, a severed artery and a blood clot in his neck.
Pathologist Dr Brett Lockyer said it was not possible to say whether Harley would have survived the collision if he had been strapped into his car seat.
Nunn initially tried to claim his brakes had failed but no faults were found with his vehicle and the court was told he would have had approximately 11.4 seconds between his traffic light changing from green to red until the collision occurred.
Data from his vehicle found he was travelling at around 90mph on a 70mph dual carriageway before the speed limit changed to 40mph ahead of the junction and the speed at the point of impact was greater than 36mph, experts said.
A driver who had stopped at the red light estimated Nunn was going between 40mph and 50mph through the junction.
Nunn, who appeared at the sentencing hearing via video link from HMP Hewell, seemed to wipe away tears as Ms Bradley told the court her world had been “ripped apart” by the loss of her “miracle” son.
She said: “The loss is unbearable. I am broken and don’t know if I will ever feel whole again.”
The court was also told that when Nunn’s car was at a garage awaiting inspection after the crash, workers found a knife, an imitation pistol and an axe in the vehicle.
Adam Western, on behalf of Nunn, said the defendant had “accepted his wrongdoing unequivocally” and did not wish to ever drive again.
He said his guilty pleas to all the charges he faced were an indication of his remorse.
He said: “He recognises his responsibility for what his driving caused. He understands who the victims are and he doesn’t see himself as a victim in any sense.
“That is not to say that these events haven’t also had a profound effect on him.
“He has asked me on his behalf to express his sorrow for what he has done. Simply saying sorry doesn’t undo the damage he has done or the pain he has caused.
“He will have to live for the rest of his life with the consequences of his actions.”
Judge Martin Jackson told Nunn, who has 21 convictions for 51 offences including dangerous driving in 2010: “Amphetamines was probably a major contributory factor to the collision. You told a probation officer you had been self-medicating with amphetamines for some 20 years.
“You may have found it something that assisted you with your ADHD. I am satisfied that your driving must have been highly impaired by your habitual use of amphetamine.
“You cut Harley’s life very short. He was never given the chance to grow up and find his way in the world. That was down to your actions entirely.
“You deliberately disregarded the rules of the road.”
He jailed Nunn for 14 years for causing death by dangerous driving, as well as concurrent sentences of three years for causing serious injury to Mr Wilkinson, two months for possessing the weapons and three months for driving with a specified drug above the specified limit.
Nunn, who told a previous court hearing he wanted to voluntarily hand in his licence, was also disqualified from driving for 10 years upon his release and must undertake an extended retest if he wants to get behind the wheel again.
