Drug driving sentences too lenient, says ex-police boss

A FORMER police and crime commissioner has criticised “lenient” drug driving sentences following the inquest into his son’s death.

Martyn Underhill’s son, Ben, died last August when he jumped out of a moving car being driven by a friend who was high on cocaine.

The car was travelling at between 32mph and 42mph and the 39-year-old suffered severe head injuries. He died in hospital three days later.

Sheldon Ennis, the driver of the car, was arrested on suspicion of grievous bodily harm as police thought it was strange that Ben would have exited a moving vehicle of his own free will. However, dashcam footage travelling behind showed no evidence of an altercation or argument between them.

Ben had suffered from paranoid schizophrenia and had been addicted to cannabis since he was aged 14.

Ennis was charged with drug driving and driving without a valid licence or insurance. He received a 12-month driving ban and a £250 fine.

Mr Underhill, 66, who was the police and crime commissioner for Dorset, said: “As for the driver of the car that Ben exited, there’s absolute frustration from the family that Mr Ennis, who had no driving licence, no insurance and had recently taken cocaine, received only a 12-month driving ban and a small fine. Drug driving must be punished far more than it currently is.”

The inquest in Bournemouth heard Ben had stopped taking medication for schizophrenia in the months before the incident, which happened in Mannington, at 4.40pm on Aug 8 last year.

Mr Ennis was driving Ben in a Mazda from Verwood to Whitemoor Fishing Lake in Wimborne. He admitted at the inquest that he had not told his passenger he was on drugs before driving him.

Mr Ennis told the inquest: “There was no indication there was anything wrong ... I turned to the left and he had opened the door and had jumped or fallen out. It was all one fluid motion.”

Ben died at Southampton Hospital on Aug 11. A post-mortem examination gave a medical cause of death as a severe traumatic head injury. He had cannabis and cocaine in his system.

Sgt Andrew Thomas, of Dorset Police’s Road Policing Unit, said: “We concluded it was a deliberate opening of the door by Ben for reasons we don’t know.”

Recording a verdict of death by misadventure, Rachael Griffin, the Dorset coroner, said: “I am satisfied it was a deliberate act by Ben to exit the car, but that he did not mean it to cause his death.”