Kane Farragher had vast quantities of drugs in his system and was banned from driving as he tried to outrun police and killed partner Taylor Jenkins
Taylor Jenkins was killed in a horror crash on the A19 at Sunderland(Image: Northumbria Police )
A drugged and dangerous driver who killed his girlfriend in a head-on smash while driving the wrong way down a dual carriageway had reached 136mph as he tried to outrun police. Kane Farragher had vast quantities of various drugs in his system as he drove a BMW M135 with 24-year-old Taylor Jenkins in the front passenger seat.
As he drove the wrong way down the A19, into oncoming traffic, he smashed into taxi coming the other way, killing Taylor and seriously injuring his friend in the back seat. Farragher was found to be way over the limit for a cocktail of drugs including cocaine, MDMA, ketamine, and cannabis and he was already banned from driving for previous offences.
Newcastle Crown Court heard it was in the early hours of March 1 that Farragher, Taylor and friends had been to an event in Newcastle. As he drove afterwards, the BMW triggered an ANPR camera showing it was a vehicle of interest to police.
Officers began following it on the Felling Bypass, in Gateshead, where it was travelling at around 60mph on the 40mph road before slowing when he became aware of the police. Police intended to use a lane closure just after traffic lights at Heworth to stop him but Farragher accelerated sharply, going through cones into the closed lane to get past the police vehicle which had got in front of him.
The court heard he sped up to more than 100mph and reached 130mph before dropping back down to 90mph. As he headed towards Testo’s roundabout, he sped up to 136mph.
More police vehicles were waiting at traffic lights at the roundabout but instead of going around the roundabout the right way, he pulled past the police before going south on the northbound carriageway of the A19.
At this point, the police did not follow him onto the wrong side of the road but followed on the correct side of the A19 and were not in immediate pursuit.
As Farragher went past the Nissan factory, he collided head-on with a taxi. The collision happened seven miles from the point where police had begun to follow him and a mile after he began going the wrong way down the dual carriageway.
When officers got to the scene, it became apparent that Taylor, of Edinburgh, had died as a result of her injuries. A man in back of the car had sustained significant injuries, including skull and rib fractures.
Farragher was trapped by the state of the car but was not badly hurt. A blood test showed he was more than three times the limit for cocaine, more than 14 times the limit for a cocaine breakdown product known as BZE, 12 times the limit for MDMA, more than twice the limit for ketamine and just over the limit for cannabis.
Farragher, 24, from Birkenhead but of no fixed address, pleaded guilty to causing Taylor’s death by dangerous driving and causing her death by careless driving while over the limit for cocaine, a cocaine breakdown product, MDMA, ketamine and cannabis, and causing her death by driving while disqualified. He also admitted causing serious injury to his other passenger by dangerous driving.
The court was told Farragher has 15 previous convictions. In 2021 he was convicted of aggravated vehicle taking and dangerous driving after he and others were on stolen motorbikes and rode them dangerously after attempts by police to stop them.
In April 2023, he was jailed for 18 months for being concerned in the supply of drugs, dangerous driving and driving while disqualified. In February 2024 he was jailed for two years for supplying drugs and in April 2024 he got 15 months for dishonesty offences.
Jailing him for 12 years and nine months and banning him from driving for 13-and-a-half years, Judge Penny Moreland said: “I want to acknowledge the dreadful loss and effect on Taylor Jenkins family and friends when you caused her death. No sentence I pass, nothing that you can do, can ever put right the terrible harm which you did that night.
“You undertook a lengthy course of the most dangerous driving one can imagine. You reached speeds of up to 130mph in your efforts to get away and travelled southbound on the northbound carriageway.
“There was a head-on collision with someone driving the correct direction on the carriageway. That resulted in catastrophic and fatal injuries for your girlfriend, Taylor, and serious injuries to your friend.
“You had vast quantities of various drugs in your bloodstream and you were a disqualified driver. There was a complete disregard for the danger to others.”
Farragher’s barrister said he held Taylor in high regard and is going to have to live the rest of his life thinking about the consequences of his actions. The court was told “there’s another side to him, a positive side to him.”
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