A man found guilty of causing the death of a 37-year-old man by driving dangerously has been jailed for seven years. 

John Joe Darch, aged 25, was seen driving at speed, tailgating and overtaking multiple cars moments before he caused a high-impact crash on the B3157 coast road near Weymouth on May 17, 2017. 

Darch’s car was said to be on the wrong side of the road when it collided with a Hyundai driven by Doctor Darran Venn, aged 37, who sustained serious injuries in the crash and died at the scene. 

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Darch of Ranelagh Road, Weymouth was found guilty in November of causing death by dangerous driving following a six day trial at Bournemouth Crown Court. He returned to court yesterday to be sentenced. 

Prosecutor, Mark Ashley said Darch had made a “deliberate decision to ignore the rules of the road” despite poor weather conditions and heavy rain. 

“He made it clear he knew the dangers on this piece of road,” Mr Ashley said. 

Mr Ashley added Darch’s BMW had been left “unrecognisable” in the crash and photos of the aftermath shown during the trial “spoke for themselves”. 

“We can all see the total devastation left by the impact.” 

Mr Ashley said there had also been an admission by Darch that he had consumed drugs prior to the crash but Judge, Brian Forster QC said there was “no evidence the drugs contributed to the manner of his driving” and he would not be taking it into consideration. 

Anne Brown, mitigating said experts had said Darch could have lost control at 50mph and asked the judge to take his age into consideration. 

She said: “He was 23 years of age when this occurred. It’s recognised that [people’s] maturity and consequential thinking skills are not developed until their mid-twenties.”  

Miss Brown said the pre-sentence report handed to the judge clearly showed Darch was remorseful and had “deep regret” for Dr Venn’s death.   

Miss Brown said Darch, who has previous convictions including drug and weapon offences and affray, had been brought up predominantly by his father who had “pro-criminal tendencies” but Darch had worked hard to leave a life of crime behind him. 

Handing down his sentence, Judge Forster said Dr Venn, was a man of potential and well-loved by his family. 

He added no sentence he could impose would reflect the loss of life and Dr Venn was “beyond value”. 

Speaking to Darch, he said: “In my judgement you drove aggressively, overtaking other traffic when it was dangerous to do so. You pushed other motorists by driving too close and you drove at a far too high speed for the conditions.” 

He added witnesses had estimated Darch had been going between 60 and 70mph just before the crash but experts had not been able to verify his speed.

“The dangerousness of your driving is underlined by the fact that you lost control on a straight stretch of road. The impact of  what you did has been enormous,” Judge Forster said.  

Darch was sentenced to seven years in jail and banned from driving for eight and a half years.