A “boy racer” who killed his friend in a terrifying crash on the A90 has avoided a prison sentence.
Jake Summers, 22, drove at excessive speed without due care and attention – losing control of his red Ford Fiesta and ploughing into trees at the side of the carriageway.
His 19-year-old friend Dylan Irvine suffered horrendous fatal injuries and was thrown from the mangled vehicle that landed in a field near St Fergus around 9.30pm on October 4 2020.
Summers, who’d managed to crawl for 19 metres, had to wait 10 hours overnight for help to arrive, once someone finally noticed the wreck and called emergency services.
Last month, a jury found Summers guilty of causing death by careless driving and sentence was deferred for background reports.
Now, in front of a packed and emotionally charged Aberdeen Sheriff Court, Summers returned to the dock to learn his fate.
Urging Sheriff Morag McLaughlin not to jail his client, defence counsel David Moggach said: “Clearly [Dylan’s] death is a huge loss to his family and friends and will still be very painful for them to bear.
“Nobody with any decency about them can feel anything but pain and compassion for his family and friends. That also includes Mr Summers and his family too.
“It’s got to be acknowledged that no sentence imposed can equate to the loss of life.
“He will have to live with the fact he caused the death of a close friend and that’s something he’ll have to deal with for the rest of his life.”
Sheriff McLaughlin sentenced Summers, of Harbour Street, Peterhead, to two years of supervision, 300 hours of unpaid work, a curfew for 10 months and banned him from driving for three years.
She told him: “I don’t think that the word tragic could even begin to describe accurately what has happened in this case and the impact it has had on Mr Irvine, his family and you and your family.
“There’s nothing about this case that is anything but completely tragic on every level.”
Following the guilty verdict last month, Amanda Irvine, Dylan’s heartbroken mum, spoke of her grief and labelled Summers a “boy racer”.
“Dylan’s absence has created a void in our family that simply cannot, and will not ever, be filled,” she said, adding: “It breaks my heart that I have to remember the laugh and cuddle of my son, instead of hear and feel them”.
During the three-day-long trial at Aberdeen Sheriff Court, a jury heard evidence from collision investigator Police Constable Calum Jamieson.
The witness explained a report into the collision, which assessed Summers’ speed to be 91mph before the deadly smash.
Referring to the investigation report, PC Jamieson said it was likely the car hit one tree at high speed, then struck another – causing the Fiesta to spin 360 degrees – before landing in an Aberdeenshire field, eight metres from the carriageway.
Friends of the two men also gave evidence about Snapchat messages they received from Dylan only moments before the crash along the Peterhead to Fraserburgh stretch of road.
One witness, Ally McBride, 22, described a video message from Dylan – sent just before his tragic end – showing both men in Summers’ car with the caption “two lads just vibing”.
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