A young driver who caused the deaths of a couple in a head-on collision while under the influence of cocaine has been jailed for three years and five months.
Jessica Higgs, now 20, fell asleep while driving her work’s Mercedes Citan van on the A303 near Yeovilton, Somerset, at about 2.40pm on May 15 2023.
North Somerset Courthouse heard the vehicle, which was travelling eastbound up to the speed limit of 50mph, suddenly drifted over the white line and into the westbound lane.
Higgs’ van crashed head-on into a Fiat 500 being driven by Tony Mist with his partner Thelma Huse in the passenger seat.
The couple, both 69, from Mytchett, Surrey, were on their way to Charmouth, Dorset, for a glamping trip to celebrate Mr Mist’s 70th birthday two days later.
They both suffered fatal injuries in the collision, with the father-of-two pronounced dead at the scene and the grandmother-of-five dying in hospital in Bristol the next day.
Higgs, from Warminster, was found to be over the specified limit for benzoylecgonine – a metabolite of cocaine – when her blood was tested at 8pm that day.
The electrical apprentice later pleaded guilty to two counts of causing death by careless driving while under the influence of drugs.
Judge Paul Cook jailed Higgs, who had no previous convictions, for three years and five months and disqualified her from driving for five years after she is released from custody.
He told her: “There was a catastrophic head-on collision which resulted in their deaths. You were also injured.
“What all the impact statements make clear is the heartbreaking devastation that has been suffered by the family members and those who loved them.
“They say these were two people with so much more life to live for and to give.”
The judge said character statements provided for Higgs described her as caring, loving and thoughtful.
He added: “While physically you have recovered, you are consumed by guilt and remorse and described as a shell of the person you were.”
The judge said Higgs, who wept throughout the court hearing, was driving within the speed limit and other motorists did not note anything unusual until the van drifted across the road.
He told Higgs: “I accept that you didn’t know you had cocaine still in your blood, however nodding off as you did was a consequence of being overtired.”
The court heard Higgs went to a party on May 13 and took cocaine, last consuming the drug in the early hours of May 14 – around 36 hours before the crash.
She went to bed early that day and awoke at 6am before being collected for work at 6.25am. Later that morning, she was tasked with driving her work van from Salisbury to Axminster.
Higgs picked up a water pump at Axminster and had an hour’s rest before setting off to drive back to Salisbury at 2pm.
Prosecuting, Rupert Russell, said Mr Mist would not have had the “time or space to avoid the collision” once Higgs’ van had crossed over the white line.
He told the court Higgs had been “up all night on the Saturday to Sunday taking cocaine” which had caused her to be tired.
“It is the tiredness which clearly led to this tragedy,” Mr Russell said.
The court heard Mr Mist and Ms Huse had been together for 30 years and were both due to celebrate their milestone 70th birthdays shortly after the collision.
Kate Cory, Ms Huse’s daughter, described how they had been travelling to Charmouth “for a much-anticipated glamping holiday” for Mr Mist’s birthday before celebrating Ms Huse’s birthday with a theatre trip.
She added: “Their 30-year love story came to an abrupt end far too soon and that’s something none of us will ever get over.”
Malcolm Galloway, representing Higgs, said she was aged 19 at the time of the collision and had held her driving licence for just nine months.
“The remorse is genuine,” Mr Galloway said. “Of course, if she could turn the clock back, she would.”
Speaking outside court on behalf of the victims’ families, Ms Huse’s ex-husband Jim Huse said they had been “devastated by the totally preventable actions of Jessica Higgs”.
“We hope that others will learn from this, as no journey is so important that it should take place when your brain is compromised by the effect of drugs,” he said.
Tony Hall, an officer with Avon and Somerset Police, added: “It is every motorist’s responsibility to make sure they are in fit enough to drive before getting behind the wheel and it is clear Higgs was not.
“This is another painful and devastating reminder that driving while under the influence of drugs is a deadly decision that puts yourself and innocent road users at serious risk.”
