A driver who killed his friend in a horror smash has been jailed for three years.
Joshua Brown, 27, failed to pay attention and ended up on the wrong side of the road before losing control then hitting another motorist. His passenger Connor O'Neill, 24, tragically died instantly.
Brown had been due to go on trial following the incident on the A73 in Cleland, Lanarkshire on August 31 2019. But, he instead pled guilty at the High Court in Glasgow to the charge of causing death by dangerous driving.
An accusation that he was using a mobile phone at the time was deleted. Brown, formerly of Hamilton, Lanarkshire, was jailed at the high court for the second time this month.
He had earlier been sentenced to five years in Lanark for raping a woman in 2020. Lord Scott ordered the three years to be served consecutively to that jail-term.
Prosecutor Chris Jones told how Connor had lived his with fiancee in Newmains, Lanarkshire. Brown picked him up from there that night in his Vauxhall Astra on way to meet another friend.
As he was driving on the A73 Carlisle road, Brown drifted into the opposite lane and ended up losing control of his motor. Mr Jones: "Brown started to brake. As he did so, the vehicle started to rotate, but continued to travel forward."
He soon hit a Toyota with the driver having "no time to avoid the collision". Mr Jones said Connor - who was the front seat passenger - suffered massive head and neck injuries.
Brown also needed hospital treatment as a result of the smash. The hearing was told Brown has also since been banned from the road for 12 months for a drug driving conviction at Glasgow Justice of the Peace Court.
Iain Paterson, defending, said: "He does think about what happened to Connor O'Neill every day and is upset at the devastation caused. He was a close friend. Joshua Brown is deeply sorry for what happened."
Sentencing, Lord Scott said he had read two emotional victim impact statements from Connor's mum and one of his sisters.
The judge said: "The impact has been traumatic and devastating. In her statement, his mother said she hoped you would accept responsibility for what you did - you have now done so.
"She also expressed the hope that you would understand and respect her and her family as they struggle with the massive void in their lives caused by the death."
Lord Scott said sentencing was "complicated" due to the sex attack jail term. He said the jail-term would have been four and a half years, but was cut due to the earlier sentence.
Lord Scott: "I appreciate that for Connor O'Neill's family that may also be seen as an additional failure to reflect the value of the life lost, but it is not meant as such. It simply takes account, as the law requires, of different prison sentences so as not to end up overall with an excessive period of imprisonment."
Brown was also banned from the road for 10 years.
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