Outcry as car chase teenager who killed nurse gets six years
A TEENAGER was locked up for six years yesterday after killing a nurse during a police chase in his £40 car.
The sentence handed to uninsured learner driver Dylan Jenkin, 18, was condemned as a ‘sick joke’ by the family of his victim Jill Pirrie.
Jenkin was driving a Ford Ka he had bought on Gumtree when he ploughed into the mother-of-one as she walked home from work.
He lost control on a bend on Old Dalkeith Road, Edinburgh, and struck the 33-year-old from behind, throwing her against a wall.
Miss Pirrie suffered severe chest and head injuries in the smash on May 12 and despite being taken to Edinburgh Royal Infirmary, where she had earlier finished her shift, she died later that day.
Passing sentence, judge Lord McEwan told a sobbing Jenkin: ‘On May 12 you and one of your friends bought a car for £40 on the Gumtree internet site. The vehicle was uninsured and registered as off the road.
‘The state of the car and the manner of driving attracted the attention of the
‘Six years for taking a life is a sick joke’
police who pursued you in a marked police car, signalling you to stop. You did not stop, but evaded the police and drove off at a high and excessive speed.
‘This was seen by several witnesses and for a brief time the police lost sight of your car. An unmitigated tragedy was about to unfold.
‘Jill Pirrie never got home and now her family and colleagues will never see her alive again.’
Last night, Miss Pirrie’s sister-inlaw, who did not want to be named, issued a statement on website Scotland’s Worst Drivers, saying: ‘Six years for taking a young life is not my idea of justice, it’s a sick joke.
‘As far as I’m concerned that is an insult to Jill’s family, friends and colleagues.
‘Jill dedicated her career to care for others, it’s a disgrace that our legal system didn’t care for her.’
Jenkin ran from the scene after the accident and did not give himself up until more than a day later. When he turned up at the Royal Infirmary for treatment he confessed he was responsible.
Prosecutor Alex Prentice, QC, said: ‘On the morning of Saturday, May 14, while the accused was being treated, he was asked if he knew why the police were present.
‘He indicated that it was because of the crash and admitted involvement. He broke down, started crying and repeatedly said, “I didn’t mean to kill her”.’
Jenkin, from Edinburgh, had pleaded guilty to causing Miss Pirrie’s death by driving dangerously, as well as other traffic offences.
In addition to being detained in a young offenders’ institution, he was banned from driving for seven years.
Mr Prentice told the High Court in Glasgow Miss Pirrie was a ‘much-loved mother, daughter and partner who leaves behind her five-yearold son now in the full-time custody of his father’.
Jenkin had bought the Ford Ka with a friend and drove it around Edinburgh with passengers on board.
But around 7.45pm, two officers saw Jenkin in the city’s Milton Road. Mr Prentice said they checked the police computer because they were suspicious about the vehicle.
After discovering it was not insured and that the DVLA had been notified it was off the road, officers signalled Jenkin to stop, but he sped away with a police car in pursuit.
Miss Pirrie was hit when Jenkin tried to turn left onto Kingston Avenue and the car skidded across the junction.
Defence advocate Brian McConnachie, QC, said the fact his client did not stop for the police when asked meant Miss Pirrie lost her life.
He said: ‘Mr Jenkin will have to live with the fact for the rest of his life that he is responsible for that.’
Last night, Jim Crombie, acting chief executive of NHS Lothian, said: ‘Our thoughts and sympathies continue to be with Jill’s family and we will continue to provide support to her friends and colleagues, if required, at this very difficult time.’