Prison officer facing jail term for causing death and serious injury of a father and son by dangerous driving

At Antrim Crown Court, defence KC Kieran Mallon said that having received an expert engineer’s report and a consultation with Gavin Hume, he was applying for the two charges to be put to the 30-year-old again.

Standing in the dock wearing a suit, shirt and tie, Hume entered guilty pleas to the two charges against him arising from a fatal collision on the Quilly Road in Coleraine on 9 August - causing the death of Edward Montgomery by dangerous driving and causing grievous bodily injury to his son Matthew, also by dangerous driving.

None of the facts surrounding the crash were opened in court but it was reported at the time how a grey Volkswagen Passat and a white Volkswagen Polo were in collision on the Quilly Road outside the village of Articlave at about 9.45am and tragically, 63-year-old Mr Montgomery sustained fatal injuries.

Following the admissions, Mr Mallon asked for sentencing to be adjourned to allow time for the defence to obtain both a pre-sentence probation report and a psychological report, conceding that as Hume admitted dangerous driving, “there’s a mandatory disqualification.”

Imposing an interim driving ban from today Judge Alistair Devlin ordered both reports and scheduled the plea and sentence to be heard on 30 May.

Freeing Hume on continuing bail, the judge told the prison officer “you are now disqualified from driving” and warned that even though he was being freed “that should not be taken as any indication that this case won’t warrant a custodial sentence.”