News Death-crash driver jailed
A cannabis user who killed three of his friends, two from Goole, when he fell asleep while driving home from an all-night rave was jailed for four years last Thursday.
Matthew Mather had already deprived himself of sleep when he smoked the drug just hours before getting behind the wheel to tackle a 100-mile journey.
He was still around 30 miles from his destination when he dozed off on the M1, swerving off the motorway before ploughing into a roadside sign.
His partner Kerri Ann Smith (21), of Moorland Road, Old Goole, his best friend Luke Richardson (19), of Doncaster, and another friend, Ruth Revell (20), of Goole, died when the car "virtually disintegrated".
Jailing him on Friday, a judge told Mr Mather that the sentence had to reflect the "risk" he took by using cannabis in the hours before the tragedy.
But the devastated relatives of two of the victims, speaking after seeing him jailed, claimed the prison-term should have been longer still.
Derby Crown Court heard how Mr Mather may have had just two hours' sleep in the 24 hours before the crash in the early hours of February 5 last year.
The 24-year-old warehouseman, from Auckley, near Doncaster, had been working nightshifts of 9.30pm until 6am in the days leading up to the smash.
On the day he drove to the rave, which took place in Birmingham, he admitted to a friend that he had snatched only "a couple of hours" after work.
Andrew Easteal, prosecuting, said the friend warned Mr Mather that he looked "knackered" and urged him not go - but Mr Mather insisted he felt fine.
The court heard he later managed to stay awake throughout the rave before the four friends began their journey back to South Yorkshire at 5.30am.
Mr Mather stopped at the Tibshelf motorway services, near Chesterfield, for more than an hour before resuming the trip - only to fall asleep shortly afterwards.
He was pulling back into the inside lane after overtaking another vehicle when he dozed off, sending his Toyota Corolla careering off the road.
He made no attempt to brake as the car veered across the hard shoulder, over a rumble strip, up an embankment and into a sign near the road.
Mr Easteal told the court: "The effect of the impact was that the vehicle was almost ripped in two. One witness said it virtually disintegrated."
Mr Richardson and Miss Revell died instantly, while Miss Smith was taken to hospital by air ambulance but pronounced dead shortly after arrival.
Tests on Mr Mather, who escaped with only minor injuries, revealed he had smoked cannabis just hours earlier and also had traces of Ecstasy in his blood.
Experts said the Ecstasy was probably taken in the middle of the week before the crash and it was impossible to say whether it affected his driving.
But the court heard Mr Mather admitted he was an habitual cannabis user and had smoked the drug on the day he drove to Birmingham with his friends.
Mr Easteal told the court: "The relaxing and soporific effects of cannabis would not have left his system altogether by the time of the accident.
"And anyone who is an habitual cannabis user is likely to suffer the cumulative effects of slower reaction times, which may affect driving."
Experts branded Mr Mather's sleep patterns as "grossly inadequate" and said he had driven when his body was "no longer capable of remaining awake".
Mr Mather, who admitted three charges of causing death by dangerous driving, was also disqualified from the roads for five years by Judge John Burgess.
Criticising his drug use, the judge said: "Everyone should recognise that if they take illicit drugs the quality of their driving may be affected.
"Smoking cannabis before driving was a risk he was prepared to take. That is an aggravating factor. I have to reflect the risk taken."
He added: "He was in a state where a friend considered him too sleep-deprived and warned him not to go. This is a tragedy for four families."
* Speaking after the crash, Mr Mather told how he would forever be tormented by guilt over killing three of his friends and walking away himself.
He said: "I don't know what happened. I just remember waking up in hospital. A police officer told me the others had died the next morning.
"Compared with what happened to them, it feels I've walked away with nothing. I keep wondering why I survived. I don't know how I'm going to cope."
Charlotte Eastwood, defending, told the court today: "He is struggling to come to terms with the fact that he is the only one who walked away."
After the hearing Kerri's uncle, Adrian Blanchard, speaking on behalf of his family and Miss Revell's, criticised the sentence as too lenient.
Mr Blanchard (49) said: "Kerri and Ruth did everything together. They were two lovely lasses in the prime of their lives and with everything to live for.
"Because of one man's actions their lives have been taken. He will be living with it for the rest of his life - and Kerri and Ruth's families for the rest of theirs.
"The sentence was not long enough. The substances he took should be treated the same as alcohol. He was in charge of that vehicle and was culpable."
Sgt Forbes Marshall, of Derbyshire police, who investigated the crash, said: "This case is one where the word 'tragedy' is completely appropriate.
"I would like to send out a message that driving while tired is just as dangerous as driving while drunk. It is becoming an increasing problem."
Published on 10th January 2008 in News.
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