Addict’s Reckless Driving On Drugs Led To Child’s Death

Calls were made yesterday for tougher deterrents against drug driving after the conviction of a man who killed a four-year-old girl while driving a 4×4 “like a maniac” under the influence of a cocktail of drugs.

Daniel Jackson hit Olivia Donachie and her mother Rachel as they made their way home from nursery in May this year. He had taken methadone, valium, temazepam and morphine.

Jackson, 31, admitted the culpable homicide of Olivia and seriously injuring her mother outside their home at Redford Drive, Edinburgh, when he appeared at the High Court in the city yesterday.

He also admitted driving at excessive speed and mounting a pavement before crashing into them. He will be sentenced later.

After the hearing, road safety campaigners demanded random drug testing of motorists to crack down on drivers using drugs before getting behind the wheel.

Isobel Bridie, of the Scot- tish Campaign Against Irresponsible Drivers (Scid), said: “It would appear police are nearer to having some detector of drugs available and the sooner the better.

“Our opinion is that it will not be random and that would be a mistake. If people think the chances of being caught are greater, then the deterrent is greater.”

The court heard how Olivia Donachie suffered horrendous injuries after Jackson’s 4×4 hit her outside her home in Edinburgh’s Colinton area. The victim’s 33-year-old mother later had her left leg amputated below the knee following the collision.

Jackson, a father-of-three, of the Grassmarket in Edinburgh, was driving a Jeep Cherokee that was effectively a death trap on the day he killed Olivia, the court heard.

Advocate-depute Dorothy Bain, QC, said that an expert examined the vehicle after the fatal crash and was of the opinion “that the Jeep driven by the accused was the worst car he had ever examined in his 10 years of working in this field”.

Scientists later carried out tests on blood taken from Jackson and found a cocktail of drugs, including morphine, the heroin substitute methadone and diazepam.

Drug addict Jackson told police that he had an almost daily intake of £40 of heroin, 70ml of methadone and four valium.

Jackson left the scene after the fatal crash but later turned up at a psychiatric hospital in an effort to admit himself having slashed his wrists.

He told a doctor he had “done something bad” and added: “I killed a little girl.” He said he might have taken both heroin and methadone that day and had run away.

He told police officers who interviewed him that on the day of the death he had just been “posing” – driving around. He had been driving a friend to pick up methadone.

In the moments up to the fatal crash, Jackson hit a car stopped at a red light in Lanark Road and then failed to comply with a stop light at a junction with Gillespie Road.

Jackson, also known as Blyth and Edwards, also caused another vehicle to injure a pedestrian, Irene Muir, 60, as she waited at a bus stop on Bridge Road.

He overtook a slowing vehicle and then collided with it and an oncoming car, which then struck the victim.

Jackson was also speeding on the opposite carriageway and in the face of oncoming traffic, forcing other motorists to take evasive action.

He then drove on, at excessive speed, into Redford Drive, where Mrs Donachie was making her way home with Olivia.

As Miss Bain described the events that led up to the child’s death and her killing, Jackson, who has previous convictions for robbery, assault and theft, sat with his head bowed in the dock.

The prosecutor said: “The Donachie family are a close, loving and supportive family.”

Mrs Donachie and her husband Paul, 39, have three other children, Samuel, seven, Amelia, two, and Isabella who was born two weeks before her oldest sister was killed.

Defence counsel Gordon Jackson, QC, said it was a “very anxious and extremely serious matter”.

Lord Menzies deferred sentence on Jackson until October 9 at the High Court in Glasgow for the preparation of background and psychiatric reports.

The judge remanded him in custody and said: “This is clearly a very serious matter and I consider it is appropriate I have as much information before me as possible before passing sentence.”

The British Medical Association (BMA) called for drug driving to be given the same priority as drink driving to make it equally publicly unacceptable.

A spokeswoman for the BMA in Scotland said: “People are generally aware that you should not drink and drive and there have been a number of successful campaigns to raise the public’s awareness of this.

“However, there is less awareness of the impact that drugs can have on people’s ability to drive.

“The BMA in Scotland would support moves to establish the most appropriate and effective drug testing devices.

“However, it is important that this is also supported by a campaign to educate the public that the side effects of illegal, and some prescribed, drugs can affect their ability to drive.”

The RAC and RoSPA echoed the calls for improved detection measures. A spokeswoman for the Scottish Government said it was awaiting the Home Office to produce specification guidelines for roadside drug testing equipment.

“The Scottish Government has made it clear we wish to see this happen as soon as possible,” the spokesman said.