A driver who killed a pedestrian while travelling at speeds of more than 80 miles per hour has had his sentence increased by the Court of Appeal. Joshua Gregory was driving his employer’s vehicle without insurance when he fatally struck 31-year-old Sri Lankan national Oshada Jayasundera in Nottingham in December last year, telling an officer after being arrested that he was drunk.
On Friday , three judges increased his sentence to 10 years and 10 months in prison and ordered that he be disqualified from driving for seven years and two months upon his release from prison.Giving their judgment, Lord Justice Dingemans, sitting with Mr Justice Bryan and Judge Nigel Lickley KC, said that the original sentence was “insufficient” and that Gregory’s dangerous driving was “prolonged, persistent and deliberate”.
Gregory had taken a Ford Focus ST from the motor dealership where he worked the previous evening and spent 10 hours driving it around Nottingham and surrounding areas. He later collided with a traffic light before attempting to run away from police, and after being arrested told officers he was drunk but refused to provide a breath sample. The sentencing judge, Recorder Paul Mann KC, said that Mr Jayasundera’s body was propelled 46 metres due to the force of the impact.