A primary school teacher whose dangerous driving caused the deaths of an elderly couple heading to church is starting an 88-month prison sentence.
David Peter Henderson, 45, initially overtook a line of cars on the wrong side of a single carriageway stretch of the A66 near Workington, in heavy traffic on February 13 2023, while heading home from work at dusk.
Behind the wheel of a red Volkswagen Golf, Henderson took a racing line to motor inside 44-tonne goods vehicle on a roundabout.
He then overtook a Mazda whose driver recalled a blasting horn from the Golf along with repetitive and aggressive headlight flashes.
That driver believed Henderson then tried to run him off the road before accelerating away at an estimated 80mph to 90mph. He watched the Golf then make a slow steady movement right, into the opposite carriageway.
“He then, within seconds, saw an explosion,” prosecutor Kim Whittlestone told Preston Crown Court this afternoon.
Henderson was apparently unconscious as he drove, head-on, into a blue Renault Clio driven by Patricia Evans, 68, whose husband Gareth, 70, was a front seat passenger. Shocked onlookers dialled 999.
“Officers arrived at the scene as did the air ambulance. Tragically, both Mr and Mrs Evans died at the scene of the collision,” said Miss Whittlestone.
Data recovered from Henderson’s vehicle airbag suggested there was little to no input, in terms of steering, accelerating or braking, by him in the five seconds prior to impact.
The court heard Henderson had, since 2013, suffered from a heart condition which caused blackouts.
“He knew when he got behind the wheel of that vehicle, on that day, that his medical condition risked him blacking out behind the wheel,” said Miss Whittlestone. “He had blacked out on two previous occasions behind the wheel.”
Crucially, Henderson latterly failed to inform the DVLA of one such blackout, in February 2022 and also both that a pacemaker had been fitted; and of a doctor’s advice, in August that year, that he should not then drive until he had been blackout-free for six months.
During what a judge called deceit and lies, Henderson also falsely told his headteacher, at St Mary’s, Salterbeck, that his licence had been returned — it had never been surrendered — and wrongly amended his car insurance policy details with the words DVLA aware, no restrictions.
Henderson, no longer a teacher, admitted two charges of causing death by dangerous driving.
Mr and Mrs Evans, of High Brigham, near Cockermouth — inseparable since meeting at Oxford University and known by friends as PatnGareth — were heading to church at the time of the fatal crash.
Gareth had worked as an industrial chemist at Sellafield, while his wife taught maths. They were long-term members of St John’s Church, Workington, and integral to bellringing, choirs and music groups.
In a moving impact statement, their son, self-employed musician Richard, made a direct address to Henderson, now wheelchair-bound as a result of injuries he sustained in the crash.
“It is impossible to put into words the pain and heartbreak that you have caused, and the devastating loss that we have suffered as a result of your selfish, thoughtless actions,” said Mr Evans. “They were the most kind, generous, thoughtful, caring people.
“They did so much for us and gave so much to so many others, both within their local communities and further afield.”
“Two beautiful, amazing souls had everything taken away, and we didn’t even get to say goodbye.
“The man who caused this is nothing to us. We don’t know you. We don’t want to make our lives about you. We can’t wait to never have to think of you again and only remember them.”
A man of previous good character, Henderson, of Arnison Close, Carlisle, was not a wicked or thoughtless man, said his barrister, Michael Hayton KC but had done a wicked thing. “He is, on any other day, a thoroughly decent man. He has done something truly awful,” added Mr Hayton.
Henderson was jailed for 88 months and told he would serve two-thirds of the sentence before being eligible for release, when he must also then complete a 12-year driving ban.
Of Mr and Mrs Evans, Judge Barker said: “Their death was, and is, a tragedy. Their loss is bitterly felt by their family. I know that this hearing, although it will come to a close today, will not provide continued relief for them.
“They are caught in their tragedy and their grief will continue.”
