A banned driver who was fourteen times the drugs limit when he killed his ‘beautiful’ girlfriend in a 136mph horror crash has been jailed for more than 12 years.
Kane Farragher had taken a cocktail of drugs including cocaine and ketamine when he got behind the wheel of a high-powered BMW which was flagged as a ‘vehicle of interest’ by police.
Farragher, 24, refused to pull over and a police chase ensued which led to him driving the wrong way down the A19 dual carriageway at eye-watering speeds before he collided head-on with another vehicle.
Keen showjumper Taylor Jenkins, 24, who was Farragher’s front-seat passenger, died at the scene near Sunderland in the early hours of March 1.
A male passenger in the back seat suffered a fractured skull and police say his injuries are ‘life-changing.’
The driver of the other vehicle required hospital treatment but his injuries were not serious.
Incredibly, Farragher emerged relatively unscathed but when he was detained at the scene he denied being in the vehicle and even tried to bribe the arresting officer with cash.
In his police interview, he again denied being in the car when it crashed, telling officers: ‘I can’t be nicked for death by dangerous driving if I weren’t in it when she died.’
Taylor Jenkins, 24, of Edinburgh, died at the scene of the horror crash on the A19 near Sunderland on March 1
The aftermath of the scene on March 1. Farragher was jailed for 12 years and nine months with a 13-and-a-half year road ban
Farragher hit speeds of 136mph during a police pursuit before the vehicle crashed going the wrong way down a dual carriageway
However on March 31, Farragher, of Birkenhead, Merseyside, finally admitted being responsible and pleaded guilty to causing death by dangerous driving, causing death by careless driving while over the limit for cocaine, a cocaine breakdown product, MDMA, ketamine and cannabis, and causing death by driving while disqualified.
He also admitted causing serious injury by dangerous driving in relation to the back seat passenger.
At Newcastle Crown Court today he was jailed for 12 years and nine months with a 13-and-a-half year road ban.
Judge Penny Moreland said: ‘I want to pause and acknowledge the dreadful loss you inflicted on Taylor Jenkins’ family and friends when you caused her death.
‘No sentence that I pass, nothing you can do can ever put right the terribly harm which you did that night.’
She said that Farragher ‘undertook a lengthy course of the most dangerous driving one can imagine’ before the fatal crash.
In victim impact statements, Miss Jenkins’ heartbroken family spoke of her passion for showjumping and aesthetics and the pain of her loss when she had so much to live for.
They said she was ‘beautiful, smart hardworking, loyal and ambitious’ and someone who brought ‘warmth and light wherever she went.’
They also expressed their pain at having to ‘relive the moment of losing her every day’ when having ‘sightings of a similar car’, ‘driving on a motorway at night’ and ‘the passing of an accident.’
Her father described the devastating loss of ‘my rascal, my baby, my light’ and said he was left in ‘suffocating agony.’
He added: ‘The silence she has left behind is overwhelming. I ache for her laughter, her beautiful, cheeky smile.’
The court heard Farragher, Jenkins, of Edinburgh, and the second passenger had been at an event in Newcastle when the BMW was flagged by Police Scotland as a ‘vehicle of interest’ and Northumbria Police tried to pull it over to speak to the driver.
When Farragher was drugs tested following his arrest, the results showed Farragher’s level of BZE, a breakdown product of cocaine, was 791. The limit is 50.
He was also 12 times over the MDMA limit, more than twice the limit for ketamine and 40 per cent over the limit for cannabis, the court heard.
Farragher has convictions for 15 offences, including driving and drugs offences in Liverpool and Scotland.
The court heard he had a troubled childhood, had suffered trauma and expressed remorse for what he did.
Aged around 16, he moved to Scotland, the court heard, where he was to meet Miss Jenkins.
Sergeant Dave Roberts, of Northumbria Police, said: ‘Taylor was a young woman at only 24 years old – she had her whole life ahead of her, and this has been cruelly taken away by one reckless individual.
‘Thanks to the overwhelming evidence in this case, Farragher had little choice but to admit his guilt at court, despite initially denying he was ever in the car or driving it.
‘He even went as far as trying to shamelessly offer money to the officer detaining him, in a ridiculous attempt to get out of the situation.
‘As a banned driver, he should never have been behind the wheel that night – and the cocktail of drugs found in his system following the crash was truly shocking.’
Northumbria Police referred itself to the IOPC, the police watchdog, after the crash and an investigation is ongoing.
