Seven years in jail for driver who killed cyclist after taking heroin

A man who had taken heroin before driving his car and who killed a cyclist when he lost control of the vehicle has been jailed for seven years three months.

Christopher Jewkes, aged 35, had pleaded guilty last month to causing the death through careless driving while under the influence of drugs of cyclist Nicholas Highfield, 41.

Nottinghamshire Police say that Jewkes had taken £5 worth of the drug before getting into his 4x4 car on 21 August 2014, the day before Mr Highfield's 42nd birthday.

Witnesses described how Jewkes, who was also on prescription medicine, lost control of the vehicle and mounted the kerb before striking Mr Highfield who was cycling in the opposite direction on the A60 Leeming Lane South in Mansfield.

Police breathalysed Jewkes for alcohol at the scene, with the motorist returning a negative result, but the officer suspected he had taken drugs and carried out a preliminary Field Impairment Test (FIT), which the motorist failed.

Jewkes, formerly of Selston, was sentenced yesterday at Nottingham Crown Court and has also been banned from driving for 10 years.

Detective Sergeant James Greely said: "We welcome the sentence handed to Jewkes today and hope that it can give at least some closure to Nicholas’ family.

"We now test for drug use in drivers at the side of the road on a regular basis and in particular, following road traffic collisions.

"There may have been a perception in the past that it’s alcohol which makes driving dangerous but as today’s sentence and the tragic events that led to it prove, taking drugs and getting behind the wheel can be deadly," he added.

The victim’s mother, Frances Highfield, said her son’s death had caused “an excruciating pain in my heart” and had left “a gap in our family.”

She added: "Nick had lunch with us every day and when he left he would always give me a bear hug and say ‘I love you mum’. I enjoyed our jokes, his humour. He will never say that again, he will never hug me again.

“The person driving that car took that away from me and I will never forgive that ever.

“They say it gets easier but it’s not true, it gets harder. I miss him so very much.”

Nottinghamshire Police last year bought roadside drug testing kits with the help of a £20,000 grant that the Department for Transport gave to police forces across the country.

Since last November, the force says it has tested 35 people, 19 of whom were found to be positive.