A drug driver who killed the nephew of 'Call the Midwife' actress Linda Bassett in a road smash after veering lanes without looking was jailed for more than three years yesterday.
Luke McErlean, 35, was taking his two sons to school in his black Mercedes when he clipped the rear wheel of Dominic Bassett, 41, after swerving lanes without looking.
He had smoked two joints the night before and had no near-side wing mirror after it was smashed off by his ex-partner, the Old Bailey heard.
Other drivers saw him 'stop and swerve' aggressively in the slow-moving traffic from the right lane into the left where university lecturer Mr Bassett had been passing with nothing ahead of him.
"It was the Mercedes hitting the rear wheel of the motorbike that thrust Mr Bassett forward," said prosecutor Kerry Broome.
"He travelled through the air and collided with a lamppost.
"It occurred within a matter of seconds."
The emergency services were called and air ambulance medics eventually managed to 'miraculously' get Mr Bassett's heart beating again after the smash at 8.30am on October 9 last year.
But the father-of-one suffered a severe traumatic brain injury with neck and spine injuries and his family made the 'heart-breaking' decision to switch off his life support 10 days later.
McErlean accepted responsibility for the collision in Sidcup Road, Eltham, southeast London, from the moment it happened, standing 'distressed' at the side of the road with his young sons in tow.
He admitted causing death by careless driving by being over the prescribed limit at an earlier hearing.
Judge Rebecca Poulet QC yesterday jailed him for three years and four months.
McErlean described it 'as an honest mistake', claiming that smoke had been coming from the engine and he 'just wanted to stop'.
The court heard Mr Bassett would have been visible to him had the mirror been attached and he had checked his blindspot.
He had also failed to repair the faulty coolant system which had previously caused the engine to emit smoke.
McErlean was later found to have 3.5 micrograms of THC per litre of blood in his system - almost double the legal limit of the active ingredient of cannabis.
"He admitted that he regularly smoked cannabis and had done so since the age of 15," Ms Broome said.
"He didn't view it as a problem as he passed his driving test under the influence of cannabis."
The court heard a series of moving victim impact statements from Mr Bassett's widow, Katie, mother Eileen and aunt Linda Bassett, star of BBC One drama 'Call the Midwife'.
"The pinnacle of his contentment was becoming a doting father to son Harvey," said his mother.
She told the court 'the wanton behaviour of a reckless motorist' had 'cruelly robbed' them of their beloved relative, leaving them to face the 'heart-breaking decision' to take him off life support.
The actress described how friends and family had gathered just days earlier to celebrate Harvey's first birthday.
She said her nephew and his wife 'were full of plans for the future', 'full of anticipation for their first Christmas in their new house'.
"He went on his bike because the train journey was longer and he wanted to be home each night in time for Harvey's bath," she added.
Every new experience is both 'wonderful and terrible because Dom isn't here to see it'.
Reading her statement from the witness box, the actress described meeting work mates with Katie and Harvey, one of whom resembled her nephew.
"I watched as Harvey went over to where he was standing and stood by him," she said.
"He stood there looking up at him, plainly puzzled at why he was not being picked up and cuddled.
"It was heart-breaking to watch. I think he looks for his daddy a lot."
She added: "He was about to enjoy the very best years of his life. He was loved by everyone who knew him, and we will miss him for the rest of our lives."
Mr Bassett's wife, Katie, wept as she recalled how her screams 'terrified' the baby after she was told of the collision.
She said her husband was 'the most affable and charming person I will ever meet, and described the pain of taking their son to hospital for 10 days only to be turned out after the maximum allowed two hours.
Katie told the court 'neither of us wanted Harvey to be an only child', adding: "We have been robbed of our future and our family."
Defending, Simon Pentol, QC, conveyed McErlean's 'deep-felt personal regret', adding that he 'will be forever remorseful'.
He told the court he acknowledged that 'in the blink of an eye he has caused a loss that he cannot put right.'
The court heard one of McErlean's sons has autism and began screaming at the sight of the smoke supposedly coming from the engine thinking the car was on fire.
Mr Pentol said he 'panicked' and 'instinctively started to pull over'.
"That is when the collision took place," he added.
"He accepts in making that decision that he didn't properly, obviously, drive to the requisite standard, and he accepts that without a wing mirror it must have contributed to the accident."
Jailing McErlean, Judge Poulet told him: "In my judgement two features particularly aggravate the careless driving - your failure to have repairs to your vehicle, and the fact that the bike would have been visible had the mirror been fitted and indeed should have been visible through the window had you checked over your shoulder.
"You had two young children in the car and yet, having this new responsibility you were still habitually smoking cannabis.
"No sentence which this court can impose will help the Bassett family to shoulder or bear their terrible loss.
"This morning I heard the most considered but heart-rending victim impact statements from Bassett family members.
"Those left me in no doubt that Mr Bassett was an exceptional, intelligent and delightful son, husband and father to his one-year-old son.
"He was also in the prime of his life. As his wife told the court, he was a man of rectitude, honour and dignity and was also a man of good-humoured affability.
"This was not just momentary inattention. It was aggravated by your failure to check on and repair the condition of your vehicle as well as your ongoing cannabis habit."
McErlean, of Salisbury Road, Dartford, Kent, admitted causing death by careless driving by being over the prescribed limit and was jailed for 40 months.
He was also handed a two-year driving ban - extended by 20 months so as to take effect once he is released at the half-way point of his sentence - and ordered to take an extended retest.
