Uninsured drink driver jailed for woman in Dorset crash

Aron Simon James Dunn, aged 30, was jailed for causing the death of 23-year-old Jade Elliott-Davis in the single-vehicle crash on the B3081 Shaftesbury Road between Shaftesbury and Gillingham.

Bournemouth Crown Court heard Jade was just a baby when her mother died at the age of 16 in a road traffic collision.

A statement from her grandmother, Mary, who adopted her and raised her, said it felt like her world had come to an end when she was told about the crash on May 1 last year.

“The world is a far less happy place without Jade,” her statement said.

Judge Stephen Climie, who jailed Dunn for two-and-a-half years, said: “It is almost impossible to understand the level of loss that woman has suffered in her lifetime.”

Jade Elliott-Davis (Image: Dorset Police)

Prosecuting, Stuart Ellacott said the defendant, of Addison Close, Gillingham, was at the wheel of an Audi A6 on the evening of the incident with his partner and her cousin in the vehicle.

The court heard he overtook two vehicles on the B3081, with the second happening moments before the crash in the area near Port Regis School.

Mr Ellacott told the court that the husband of the woman who was in the car overtaken shortly prior to the incident warned her partner to “slow down, he will hit a tree in a minute”.

The prosecutor said it was fortunate a driver heading in the opposite direction had not set off moments earlier on his journey as the defendant’s vehicle, which he bought days before the crash, ended up on wrong side of the road after hitting the tree.

Mr Ellacott said life-saving efforts were made at the scene but Jade suffered head and chest injuries which were unsurvivable.

Dunn was trapped in the car and suffered leg injuries. He spoke to a paramedic at the scene and said: “I lost control at speed.”

Dashcam footage recorded by Dorset Police showing the road where the incident happened was played in court.

Mr Ellacott said the defendant thought he was travelling at around 70mph.

“He admitted to the practitioner at the time he had drunk alcohol prior to driving and stated that he was over the limit,” Mr Ellacott said.

The court heard a blood sample taken from the defendant five hours and 40 minutes after the crash had 20 milligrams of alcohol per 100 millilitres of blood.

Mr Ellacott said the legal limit is 80 milligrams and the back calculation estimated he would have had 105 milligrams at the time of the incident.

In interview, the defendant accepted driving, that he was only a provisional licence holder and he was not insured. There were no L plates on the vehicle.

The prosecutor said Dunn had 12 hours of driving lessons when he was aged 18 to 19 but he had not taken his theory test. One of the vehicle's tyres was below the legal tread limit.

Mr Ellacott read a victim personal statement from Jade’s grandmother Mary.

She said it was “impossible to put into words” how she felt after losing her daughter and granddaughter in road traffic collisions, adding that she was “devastated”.

“I felt like the world had come to an end and I just wanted to see her and speak with her,” Mary’s statement said.

She added: “My whole world has been turned upside down.”

Mary said Jade’s death meant her loved one would never be able to become a mum, a wife and pursue her aspirations.

“This was all taken away from her by a reckless driver,” she said.

Mary said “nothing was too much trouble” for her “beautiful” granddaughter.

Dunn pleaded guilty to a single charge of causing death by dangerous driving.

The sentencing hearing took place at Bournemouth Crown Court on October 21 (Image: Newsquest)

Tom Evans, mitigating, said cases of this type were “truly awful”.

He said the defendant did not set out to cause the type of harm that came about.

Mr Evans said the incident had caused “unimaginable pain” to the victim’s family, adding that included his client’s partner.

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The crash had a “significant impact” on Dunn, Mr Evans said.

“He will live with this for the rest of his life, particularly because of the familial link to the victim,” the barrister said.

Judge Climie said he accepted the defendant was of previous good character and he was genuinely remorseful.

“That good character is totally lost as a result of the circumstances of May 1, 2021,” the judge said.

“You chose to get into a car which was a new vehicle that you had acquired in the previous 72 hours uninsured with only a provisional licence and no indication to the effect on the outside by way of L plates.”

The judge said a significant if not substantial aggravating factor was the defendant being under the influence of alcohol.

Dunn was given full credit for his early guilty plea, with the sentence further reduced due to the impact immediate custody would have on others, including his partner and children.

The defendant was disqualified from driving for four years.

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