‘Grossly intoxicated’ driver who killed three after driving wrong way down slip road jailed

A drink-driver who drove his pick-up truck the wrong way down a slip road on to a dual carriageway and crashed head-on into a car, killing all three people inside, has been jailed for eight years and four months.
By The Newsroom
Published 20th May 2019, 16:02 BST
Tommy Whitmore, a drink-driver who drove his pick-up truck the wrong way down a slip road on to a dual carriageway and crashed head-on into a car, killing all three people inside, has been jailed for eight years and four monthsTommy Whitmore, a drink-driver who drove his pick-up truck the wrong way down a slip road on to a dual carriageway and crashed head-on into a car, killing all three people inside, has been jailed for eight years and four months
Tommy Whitmore, a drink-driver who drove his pick-up truck the wrong way down a slip road on to a dual carriageway and crashed head-on into a car, killing all three people inside, has been jailed for eight years and four months

Tommy Whitmore, 26, had been warned by his girlfriend not to get behind the wheel after an evening out drinking at a restaurant then at a village hall, Cambridge Crown Court heard.

Prosecutor Peter Gair said Whitmore ignored her advice to sleep in his vehicle and instead drove off three minutes after she left with her parents.

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He started driving at 11.51pm on April 13 and at 11.58pm Whitmore’s Ford Ranger crashed head-on into a Renault Megane on the A1139 in Peterborough, killing the three people inside.

They were driver Marko Makula, 22, his fiancee Jana Kockova, 21, who was the front seat passenger, and her 19-year-old brother Tomas Kocko, who was the rear seat passenger.

Marko and Jana, who had two children aged two and one, had been to pick up Tomas and were on their way home when the crash happened, Mr Gair said.

Their two children were being looked after at home.

Whitmore, of Cowbit, near Spalding in Lincolnshire, admitted causing the deaths of the three by dangerous driving.

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He bowed his head and looked downwards as his sentence was read out, with the family of the deceased in court for yesterday’s hearing and assisted by an interpreter.

Judge David Farrell QC, sentencing, told Whitmore: “You made a deliberate decision to drive despite being grossly intoxicated.”

He said this resulted in Whitmore being “unable to read the road and signs which would have been obvious to a sober driver”.

Blood tests later showed he had 186 milligrammes of alcohol per 100 millilitres of blood, the court heard. The legal limit is 80 milligrammes of alcohol.

Whitmore was also over the legal limit for cannabis.

Mr Gair said there was no suggestion Marko, who was driving the Renault Megane, had done anything wrong, adding “there was no thinking time to react”.