m4 death crash driver jailed
SUICIDAL DRIVER KILLED DAD-OF-THREE WHO WAS RETURNING HOME FROM KEY WORKER SHIFT
A DRIVER whose suicide attempt ended in the death of another man has been jailed for seven years.
Thomas Hughes planned to kill himself by driving at high speed into a lamppost – but instead fatally careered into a builder’s car
Dad-of-three Kirk Butcher, who was 45 and from Ebbw Vale, died at the scene of the crash on the M4 near junction 25A at Newport in the early hours of Sunday, April 5.
Thomas Hughes, 24, was at the wheel of a Mercedes Sprinter van which had left the A4042 and ploughed head-on into Mr Butcher’s Nissan Micra.
Hughes admitted causing death by dangerous driving and failing to stop at an earlier hearing where the court was told he was “feeling suicidal” and had planned to drive into a lamppost at 100mph.
A hearing at Cardiff Crown Court was told the “catastrophic” collision occurred at around 3.30am, leaving Mr Butcher trapped in his vehicle while Hughes, who had only been released from police custody an hour earlier, fled on foot.
Hughes ran to his brother’s house. He was described as laughing and crying, with blood on his wrists.
Hughes kept repeating: “Don’t let the police in.” The defendant said he had not realised he was on the wrong side of the road.
He told his brother he was scared he had killed someone.
Hughes was driving at between 64mph and 75mph when he struck the car of Mr Butcher, who was leaving a shift as a key worker at Tesco – a temporary job during the coronavirus pandemic. The vehicles “became entangled” with smoke seen coming from each.
Hughes was described as “flippant” in the way he answered questions about the crash in the aftermath, while he was heard to say: “I was kicked out of my flat and just wanted to kill myself.
“I wanted to drive the wrong way down the motorway at 100mph.”
He accepted using Valium and alcohol.
Blood samples were taken from the defendant and no alcohol was detected.
Diazepam detected in the testing was below the specified limit.
He said he intended to crash into a tree or a lamppost and hadn’t wanted to hurt anyone else.
Owen Williams, for Hughes, accepted that his client leaving the scene was a “serious aggravating feature”, but described him as being “hitherto, of clean character”.
Hughes, of St Dials Court, Oak Street, Cwmbran, will be disqualified from driving for five years from the time of his release and will have to pass an extended driving test before being allowed behind the wheel again.
During the hearing, a victim impact statement was read on behalf of Mr Butcher’s widow Janet, who works at Trago Mills, saying the couple had met aged 14 and were childhood sweethearts.
“He was not only my husband, he was my best friend. We were soulmates,” she said.
The couple had three daughters together and were planning a trip to Disneyland next year.
“I can’t help but think the girls won’t have their dad with them walking them down the aisle on their wedding day.
“Nothing in our lives will be the same. We have to move forward without such an important and cherished person in our lives.”
After the hearing, Darren Sullivan, officer in the case for Gwent Police, said: “This was a senseless and selfish act by the defendant, which took the life of an innocent man.
“Three young children have lost a father, Janet has lost her husband, and not forgetting the loss suffered by his brother Lindsay, and his extended family and friends.
“Kirk was a key worker returning home to his family at the end of a 12-hour shift when Thomas Hughes, driving the wrong way on the motorway, collided with his vehicle.
“This tragedy was completely avoidable and Hughes will have to live with the consequences of his actions for the rest of his life – although that will provide little comfort to the Butcher family.
“Too many people die on our roads every year in senseless and often avoidable circumstances.
“I can only hope that the sentence passed today will act as a deterrent to anyone intent on driving in such a dangerous and reckless manner.
“On behalf of myself, the team investigating this case, and Gwent Police I would like to express my heartfelt condolences to Janet and her family. I would also like to thank all those who provided information to assist in the investigation leading to the arrest and subsequent conviction of Thomas Hughes.”
Judge Richard Twomlow said during his handing down of the sevenyear jail sentence: “This was an unbelievably dangerous piece of driving with no thought to anyone but yourself. This was a quite deliberate, persistent course of driving.
“There is no doubt you were seriously culpable. You gave Mr Butcher no chance to avoid you.”
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