Boy racer jailed for six years over gran’s crash death
A TEENAGER who caused a grandmother’s death by racing a banned driver at speeds of up to 140mph has been jailed for six years.
John Gribben’s ‘immature and irresponsible’ behaviour contributed to the ‘catastrophe’, a judge said yesterday.
Joan Price, 59, a trombonist, was returning home from band practice when she died on the A77 near Ayr on January 30 of last year.
She was killed instantly when her Nissan Pulsar was involved in a headon crash with a powerful Volkswagen Golf GTI being driven by banned motorist Logan Knox, 20.
Knox was racing Gribben, 19, when he lost control of his car.
Gribben returned to the High Court in Glasgow yesterday after being convicted last month of causing death by dangerous driving.
He was sentenced to four years over the death of Mrs Price, plus two years for driving dangerously two months after the crash and using ‘Ayrshire roads as a racetrack’.
Knox was jailed for five years and four months last summer after he admitted causing death by dangerous driving.
Sentencing Gribben, Judge Sean Murphy, QC, told him he
‘Absolute madness’
contributed to the ‘destruction’ of a life by driving at a ‘grossly excessive speed’.
He said: ‘The victim impact statements are the most distressing I have ever had to read.
‘Mrs Price’s husband [Colin] had to telephone each of their daughters in turn that their mother had been killed in the crash.’
Gribben had been ‘selfcentred’ by racing in his Audi again after being bailed over the fatal smash, the court was told. He showed no emotion as he was led to the cells.
The mechanic met Knox – who was banned from the road three months before the crash – at a retail park in his home town of Ayr that is a ‘known gathering site for the youth car culture’.
The pair then decided to race on the A77. One driver described their actions on the night of Mrs Price’s death as ‘crazy... absolute madness’.
Another said: ‘I have never seen cars travelling like that.’
Knox was ahead of Gribben but span out of control when he tried to undertake a van and clipped it – causing him to plough headlong into Mrs Price’s car, which was heading in the opposite direction.
Knox, of Kirkoswald, Ayrshire, did not wait at the scene but was later identified after going to hospital.
Mrs Price, a support worker from Troon, Ayrshire, died in her car. The court heard she was a ‘much-loved wife, mother and gran whose death had a profound effect’.
Her passenger and friend, Gillian Kay, 40, was seriously hurt.
She remains on crutches having suffered a fractured heel, has severe arthritis and is in ‘constant pain’, the court heard. An initial charge at Gribben’s trial – later withdrawn – stated that he did ‘assist’ Knox and drove him from the scene.
Knox later admitted he was driving the Golf – and that he had never held a licence.
During the trial, he admitted his speed was ‘probably about 140[mph] at some point’.
He said Gribben had been ‘flashing his lights and waving’ that night. He believed Gribben was ‘probably wanting a race’.
But he said in court that Gribben was not responsible for the death. Knox told jurors: ‘Maybe [Gribben was] engaging in a race but the crash was not his fault.’