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A drug driver who killed a motorcyclist after his car veered lanes has been jailed for more than three years.
Luke McErlean, of Salisbury Road, Dartford, was taking his two sons to school in October last year when his black Mercedes clipped the wheel of Dominic Bassett's motorcycle.
Mr Bassett, 41, who is the nephew of Call the Midwife actress Linda Bassett, suffered a traumatic head injury in the accident and died 10 days later after his family decided to switch off his life support.
Appearing at the Old Bailey on Monday, July 29, the court heard how McErlean had smoked cannabis the night before and was driving without a near-side wing mirror after his ex-partner smashed it off and swerved lanes without looking.
Other drivers saw him stop and swerve aggressively from the right lane into the left, in Sidcup Road, Eltham, where university lecturer Mr Bassett, 41, had been passing with nothing ahead of him.
"It was the Mercedes hitting the rear wheel of the motorbike that thrust Mr Bassett forward," said prosecutor Kerry Broome.
"He travelled through the air and collided with a lamppost. It occurred within a matter of seconds."
McErlean, 35, accepted responsibility for the collision, and the court heard how from the moment it happened, he was standing 'distressed' at the side of the road with his young sons in tow.
He admitted causing death by careless driving by being over the prescribed limit at an earlier hearing.
Judge Rebecca Poulet QC jailed him for three years and four months and handed a two-year driving ban – extended by 20 months so as to take effect once he is released at the half-way point of his sentence – and ordered to take an extended retest.
McErlean described it as an honest mistake, claiming that smoke had been coming from the engine and he 'just wanted to stop'.
"No sentence which this court can impose will help the Bassett family to shoulder or bear their terrible loss..." Judge Rebecca Poulet QC
The court heard Mr Bassett would have been visible to him had the mirror been attached and he had checked his blindspot.
He had also failed to repair the faulty coolant system which had previously caused the engine to emit smoke.
McErlean was later found to have 3.5 micrograms of THC per litre of blood in his system – almost double the legal limit of the active ingredient of cannabis.
Defending, Simon Pentol, QC, conveyed McErlean's 'deep-felt personal regret', adding that he 'will be forever remorseful'.
He told the court he acknowledged that "in the blink of an eye he has caused a loss that he cannot put right."
The court heard one of McErlean's sons has autism and began screaming at the sight of the smoke supposedly coming from the engine thinking the car was on fire.
Mr Pentol said he "panicked" and "instinctively started to pull over."
"That is when the collision took place," he added.
"He accepts in making that decision that he didn't properly, obviously, drive to the requisite standard, and he accepts that without a wing mirror it must have contributed to the accident."
Jailing McErlean, Judge Poulet told him: "In my judgement two features particularly aggravate the careless driving – your failure to have repairs to your vehicle, and the fact that the bike would have been visible had the mirror been fitted and indeed should have been visible through the window had you checked over your shoulder.
"You had two young children in the car and yet, having this new responsibility you were still habitually smoking cannabis.
"No sentence which this court can impose will help the Bassett family to shoulder or bear their terrible loss.
"This morning I heard the most considered but heart-rending victim impact statements from Bassett family members.
"Those left me in no doubt that Mr Bassett was an exceptional, intelligent and delightful son, husband and father to his one-year-old son.
"He was also in the prime of his life. As his wife told the court, he was a man of rectitude, honour and dignity and was also a man of good-humoured affability.
"This was not just momentary inattention. It was aggravated by your failure to check on and repair the condition of your vehicle as well as your ongoing cannabis habit."
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