A learner driver began a 42 month jail term tonigh

A learner driver began a 42 month jail term tonight for causing the death of a devoted father in a horrific car crash.

John Harris, 21, was speeding to buy cannabis at 70mph in a 30mph limit when he lost control and careered round a blind corner on the wrong side of the road.

He smashed into a Vauxhall Cavalier driven by 33-year-old computer engineer John Blenchley, totally destroying the front end.

Mr Blenchley, from South Norwood, died from severe head injuries and Judge Paul Collins told him:

‘You robbed a woman with a two year-old child of her husband.

‘

Harris’ friend Andrew Owen then claimed he was the driver and that there was no one else in the car.

Harris borrowed a mobile phone to call his aunt before disappearing from the scene.

The Old Bailey heard how Harris only admitted causing death by dangerous driving in September this year – nine months after the accident.

Prosecutor Nick Wood said: ‘On December 28 the vehicle was seen by witnesses driving along Perry Street in Chislehurst at a speed in excess of 70mph.

‘The car was weaving around as it went round the corner and hit the curb.

That caused a wheel bearing on the rear nearside wheel to disintegrate and the defendant had no control of the vehicle.

‘It veered across the carriageway and collided at high speed with a vehicle travelling in the opposite direction.

‘At the scene the defendant borrowed a mobile phone to ring his aunt, not the emergency services.

‘He said he hadn’t been driving and his passenger, who had been thrown out of the vehicle on impact said he was on his own in the car.

‘By the time the emergency services arrived he was no longer around at the scene.

‘

Harris was arrested on January 6 and DNA from blood found in the driver’s seat of the blue Ford Escort matched his profile.

His defence barrister Mark Graffius said Harris was at the wheel because his friends were in no position to drive.

‘He is unable to explain his behaviour at the scene.

He is still confused as to the course of events and is in a state of continuous shock.

‘He suffers from a very real sense of guilt and he feels that only by being punished can he begin to make reparation for this.

‘He would like to make clear his utter shame and distress at the pain and suffering caused by his actions.

‘

Harris had no previous convictions and no driving offences.

His provisional licence had been issued on January 1997.

Jailing him for three and a half years Judge Collins said:

‘You were driving on the wrong side of a bollard on a blind bend.

The photographs show the devastating effect of your driving.

‘The collision was horrific and you robbed a woman with a two year-old child of her husband.

‘No sentence will even begin to make that family feel better or to compensate them for their loss.

‘

Harris, of Barnfield Road, St Paul’s Cray, Orpington, Kent, was banned from driving for three years.

ends