Family's disgust as driver who caused death is jailed for just 14 months

A court heard how 31-year-old Jamie Wharton raced down St Peter's Road in Netherton before skidding off and into a garden, killing 23-year-old passenger Timothy Pearson.

Mr Pearson's family and friends walked out of Wolverhampton Crown Court in disgust after Judge John Wait told Wharton his sentence.

Wharton was driving a Nissan Skyline with Mr Pearson as a passenger on June 3, 2014, when it left the road. The exact speed could not be calculated by police investigators but eyewitnesses said it was well in excess of the road's 30mph limit. Wharton, of Birch Coppice, Quarry Bank, had earlier been due to stand trial on a charge of causing death by dangerous driving.

But after the Crown Prosecution Service agreed to accept the lesser charge of causing death by careless or inconsiderate driving, Wharton pleaded guilty and was sentenced on Friday.

Mr Pearson, who was from Quarry Bank, was pronounced dead at the scene. Wharton was injured in the crash but has made a full recovery. The judge told the court: "Timothy Pearson was a devoted grandson whose death has devastated a whole family to the extent that some are on medication and some are receiving counselling.

"It is no exaggeration to say that a whole family has been devastated by your actions."

The judge added he was satisfied from police evidence that Wharton had been drinking alcohol either on the day of the crash or had consumed 'far, far more' than he had admitted to officers and he criticised his driving.

Defending Wharton, Mr Andrew Jackson said Wharton was sorry for his actions and he was 'emphatically not' a boy racer.

Wharton was also banned from driving for four years and seven months.