Driver who killed two gets five years
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• A drunk truck driver who killed an AA patrolman and the driver of a car when he fell asleep and ploughed into the breakdown vehicle has been jailed for five years.
Anthony Young of St George Terrace, Reading, was jailed after he admitted two charges of causing death by careless driving while under the influence of drink, Alan Keeling, prosecuting, told Wanvick Crown Court that the incident took place in July last year after Zhafa Ali Khan broke down on the hard shoulder of the M40. AA patrolman John Jones arrived at about 23:00hrs, parked behind the broken-down car and put on his hazard lights.
But as Jones was talking to Khan, other drivers saw Young's Parceline lorry drift on to the hard shoulder and plough into the men with such force that the AA van rolled over into the Honda car and pushed it for "some distance".
Jones, who had been an AA patrolman for five years, died from head injuries.
Khan was declared dead on arrival at Warwick Hospital; his nephew Tariq Hamayun escaped with a broken leg, broken ribs and a punctured lung.
Young, who was sucking mints when the police arrived, failed a roadside breath test. Keeling told the court that just a week before the fatal crash, Young had been convicted of dangerous driving.
Jailing Young, banning him from driving for five years, and ordering him to retake his test before driving again, recorder Gareth Evans QC told him: "People who drink and drive and kill have to go to prison."