Drink-driver sentenced for causing death by careless driving after single vehicle collision near West Sussex village

Police said Marcus Phillips was driving southbound on the A2037 between Henfield and Small Dole in the early hours of May 29, 2021.

A black Vauxhall collided into a tree, Sussex Police added.

Police said Patrick Calum O’Sullivan, known as Calum, of the Broadbridge Heath area of Horsham, was a passenger in the vehicle and was tragically pronounced dead at the scene, aged 24.

Phillips, now known as Marcus Saunders, left the scene and later attended accident and emergency where he was treated for injuries, Sussex Police added.

Police said he was tested for alcohol which showed he was over the prescribed limit at the time of the collision.

At Hove Crown Court on February 17, he admitted causing death by careless driving while over the prescribed limit for alcohol, and causing death while uninsured, Sussex Police confirmed.

Police said Phillips, 22, a landscape gardener of Mannings Heath near Horsham, appeared before the same court for sentencing on May 18.

For the offence of causing death by careless driving whilst over the prescribed alcohol limit he was sentenced to five years and one month in prison, Sussex Police added.

Police said he was ordered to serve half of this sentence in custody and the remainder will be spent on licence subject to conditions.

Phillips also admitted the charge of causing death while uninsured, and was sentenced to 12 months imprisonment, which will be served concurrently, as part of the overall sentence of five years and one month, Sussex Police confirmed.

Police said he was disqualified from driving for five-and-a-half years and ordered to take an extended re-test before driving again.

Sussex Police said the court was told how the incident happened at about 12.15am on May 29 in 2021 when Phillips’ car hit a tree.

He had failed to negotiate a bend in the road, and after the impact his speedometer was left stuck at 75mph, indicating he may also have been traveling at excess speed, police added.

Sussex Police said Phillips gave a blood test in hospital, and it is estimated that at the time of the collision, he was positive for 144 microgrammes of alcohol per litre of blood.

The legal limit is 80mcg of alcohol per litre of blood.

Delivering the sentence, Judge Jeremy Gold KC said: “There can be no starker illustration of a case of drunken driving.

“The seriousness of the driving falls just short of dangerous driving. There is no doubt that the degree of intoxication was a significant factor.”

Speaking after the case, Calum’s mother, Laura Crosbie, said: “There are no winners today. We have all lost someone irreplaceable and no sentence will do anything to ease that loss.”

Detective Sergeant Rob Baldwin from the Serious Collision Investigation Unit said: “This case is another tragic reminder of the danger of drinking alcohol and driving.

“It remains one of the main factors of people being killed or seriously injured on our roads.

“In this case, a young man lost his life and a family have to deal with the devastating aftermath of this incident.

“Meanwhile Phillips is very lucky to have escaped with his own life, and will be left instead having to rue the consequences of his actions.

“This was an entirely preventable and avoidable incident that has caused pain and heartache.

"This should be a warning to everyone not to drink alcohol and drive, and also not to get into a car as a passenger with a driver who has been drinking.”