Man jailed for killing girlfriend in police chase
Northumbria PoliceA drug-driver has been jailed for killing his girlfriend in a head-on crash, after he was pursued by police.
Kane Farragher, 24, was jailed for 12 years and nine months after he admitted causing the death by dangerous driving of Taylor Jenkins, 24, from Edinburgh.
She was the front seat passenger when the already banned driver went the wrong way down the A19 near Sunderland on 1 March and crashed into a taxi.
Farragher was also handed a 13-and-a-half-year driving ban at Newcastle Crown Court, with Judge Moreland saying he "undertook a lengthy course of the most dangerous driving one can imagine".
Prosecutors said his BMW M135 triggered an automatic camera notification on Tyneside that it was a vehicle of interest to Police Scotland.
Northumbria Police officers attempted to stop the car on the Felling bypass in Gateshead but Farragher drove into a coned-off section of the carriageway and sped away to avoid being boxed in.
Reaching speeds of up to 136mph (219 km/h), Farragher evaded the pursuit which was called off when he headed the wrong way down the A19.
The court heard the crash happened near to the Nissan factory, around seven miles (11km) from where the pursuit had started and one mile (1.6km) from where he joined the A19.
Family handoutThe blood sample taken after the crash showed Farragher was excessively over the legal limits for cocaine, cannabis, ecstasy and ketamine, the court heard.
The defendant, who held his head in his hands for much of the sentencing which he followed on a link from prison, was disqualified from driving at the time, having been banned for four years in 2023.
The court heard the couple were travelling with friends to Newcastle for an event that night.
Farragher's friend in the back seat was also badly injured in the collision.
In an interview with police, Farragher, from Birkenhead, Merseyside, intitally denied being the driver.
Sgt Dave Roberts said he "even went as far as trying to shamelessly offer money to the officer detaining him, in a ridiculous attempt to get out of the situation".
Farragher later admitted to causing death by dangerous driving, drug-driving offences, driving while disqualified and causing serious injury to his friend.
Northumbria Police referred the case to the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) which is investigating.
