One year in jail for speeding prison officer Gavin Hume (30) who killed Edward Montgomery (63) and severely wounded his son (21) after losing control at 100mph in a 60mph zone - with a previous 100mph-plus speeding conviction

In addition Gavin Hume (30) will spend a further 15 months under supervised licence conditions.

Judge Alistair Devlin said the accident which claimed the life of Edward Montgomery and left his son Matthew severely injured had been “absolutely avoidable.”

Judge Alistair Devlin, sitting at Antrim Crown Court, said Hume’s “grossly excessive speed” on August 9, 2019, was to blame.

An expert crash site examiner indicated in his report that 500m (1,640ft) from the point of impact on the Quilly Road near Articlave, Hume’s VW Passat was travelling “between 100-108mph”.

The limit was 60mph.

With standing puddles of water still on the road after a heavy downpour, the car began to aquaplane.

Hume lost control and the VW, by now travelling at around 55mph, crashed head on into the VW Polo.

Mr Montgomery Senior, a 63-year-old father-of-three, was pronounced dead at the scene as a result of the multiple severe injuries he sustained.

His son Matthew, 21 at the time, had to be cut free from the wreckage and still now, also five years since the accident, has a multitude of metal plates and pins in his arms and legs and still suffers significant pain in his ankles.

Commending the Montgomery family for their determination and courage in writing “sincere and heartfelt” victim impact statements (VIS), the judge told the court the “inherent value” in them was that “they bring home in stark terms the enormous cost in terms of pain, loss and heartache inflicted upon the innocent, lawful users of our roads and their families”.

At an earlier hearing, north Antrim man Hume entered guilty pleas to the two charges of causing the death of Edward Montgomery by dangerous driving and causing grievous bodily injury to his son Matthew, also by dangerous driving.

Summarising the case during his sentencing remarks today, Judge Devlin said it was around 9.45am in the morning when the accident happened with the cars travelling in opposite directions: Hume on his way to work at Magilligan Prison, and Edward Montgomery taking his son to work in Portstewart.

According to the expert engineer’s report, the point of impact was 14m (46ft) inside the 30mph zone of Articlave where the Polo was travelling at around 40mph as it exited the zone.

But Judge Devlin said that from a CCTV camera positioned on a house 500m further down the road, the engineer was able to calculate that Hume’s Passat was traveling in excess of 100mph as he drove over a crest in the road.

The judge said he was satisfied that, due to the excessive speed when it hit standing puddles, the Passat began to aquaplane and the var veered into the opposite lane and struck the front of the Polo.

While a paramedic pronounced Mr Montgomery dead at the scene, his son Matthew was trapped in the front passenger seat beside him and the fire brigade had to cut the roof from the car to get him freed as his legs were trapped in the passenger footwell.

As a result of the massive impact, Matthew Montgomery sustained multiple fractures to his arms, legs and ankles and was flown by the air ambulance to the Royal Victoria Hospital where he spent a significant period in intensive care before being transferred back to the Causeway Hospital.

Judge Devlin said he had spent two months as an inpatient and had to undergo surgeries to insert pins and plates in his arms and legs, a stint in his femoral artery and still has to take daily pain relief.

Hume himself was also injured but he was also diagnosed with retrograde amnesia which means he cannot remember either the accident itself or the three days leading up to it.

Turning to aspects of the case to be taken into account in deciding the sentence, the judge told the court it was clear from the guidelines that only in exceptional cases would defendants avoid custodial sentences and in the case against Hume, there were a number of aggravating features.

Those included the fact there were two victims, the “grossly excessive speed” on a road which he was familiar with and ought to have known there would be standing water, and Hume’s previous conviction for excess speed.

That offence was committed four years before the accident and saw Hume being caught at 102mph on the M2 motorway in November 2014.

Handed a fine and points for that offence, the judge said Hume had “completely failed to learn the salutary lesson which he ought to have done… and as a result of that failure, Mr Montgomery has lost his life, his son sustained serious injury and as well as the loss of his father, the rest of the family have lost a loved one”.

In her impact statement, Mrs Montgomery talked about how she and Mr Montgomery had been together for 30 years including 27 as husband and wife.

She described him as “the love of her life,” said the couple had been “preparing and looking forward to well-earned retirement and all that future promised in terms of holidays, days out and the happy prospect of increased time with their family”.

“All of that was suddenly, on the day in question, snatched away from her and her family, to be replaced by the overwhelming pain and loneliness which this tragic and ultimately avoidable accident brought with it,” said the judge.

Ordering Hume to stand up in the dock, he told the killer driver that, but for his plea, the sentence would have been 36 months.

But allowing credit for his guilty plea, he would decrease it to 27 months with 12 to be served in jail and the remainder on licence.

In addition to the jail sentence, Hume was also banned from driving for five years.