Jail for 21-year-old who caused death by careless driving

A 21-year-old Shropshire man has been put behind bars for 12 months for causing the death by careless driving of a passenger in his car.

Scott Muir of Old Chirk Road, Gobowen, was also given a 26-week jail term, to run concurrently for driving without a licence and banned from driving for two years when he appeared at Shrewsbury Crown Court today.

He admitted causing the death of 18-year-old Grant McCulloch, a passenger in his car, by careless driving on October 24, 2009 when he appeared in court on Wednesday.

The court heard that Muir was driving on the B5069 Gobowen Road in Oswestry when he lost control of the car and collided with a tree.

Judge Robin Onions said he took a number of aggravating features into account when passing the sentence.

These were that alcohol and cannabis were detected in Muir's system, the vehicle was being driven with under inflated tyres and two previous driving offences.

Judge Onions said: "We cannot prove with precision what happened. The most likely scenario is that he went into the bend too fast and over-compensated.

"No sentence I can pass can reflect the loss of Grant's life. No judge can do that. I can only pass on a sentence which reflects the quality of driving."