A teenage driver who fell asleep at the wheel of her delivery van before fatally hitting an elderly couple while high on cocaine has been jailed for three years and five months.
Jessica Higgs, then 19, had cocaine in her system 36 hours after taking the drug at a weekend party in May 2023.
On Friday, Higgs, now 20, was jailed after admitting causing a death by careless driving while over the limit of a controlled drug.
Taunton Crown Court heard Higgs had driven from Salisbury, Wiltshire, to Axminster, Devon, taking two hours.
Then he took a nap and rested before setting off on his return journey.
Jessica Higgs, 20, fell asleep at the wheel of her delivery van before fatally running over an elderly couple while under the influence of cocaine.
Higgs was jailed after admitting causing a death by careless driving while over the limit of a controlled drug.
Higgs momentarily fell asleep at the wheel and swerved across the 50 mph lane into the westbound lane of Tony Mist and his partner Thelma Huse, both 69.
But as she drove her Mercedes van on the A303 at Camel Hill, near Yeovilton, Somerset, she momentarily fell asleep at the wheel and swerved across the 50mph carriageway into the westbound lane of Tony Mist and his partner Thelma Huse, both 69.
The court heard that Higgs, of Warminster, Wilts, had been driving for a long time before she fell asleep.
After the accident, another driver pulled her out of the truck and she told him, “I fell asleep.”
Higgs, from Warminster, was found to have levels of benzoylecgonine (a metabolite of cocaine) above the specified limit when his blood was tested at 8pm that day.
Mr Mist, a father of two, died at the scene and Ms Huse, a grandmother of five, died the following day in hospital.
The couple, both 69, from Mytchett, Surrey, were heading to Charmouth, Dorset, for a glamping trip to celebrate Mr Mist’s 70th birthday two days later.
Their families were present in court and gave personal statements of the victims to the judge.
They said their deaths were “totally preventable” and that they “left this world in the cruelest way.”
The apprentice electrician pleaded guilty to two counts of causing death by careless driving under the influence of drugs.
Judge Paul Cook jailed her and banned her from driving for five years from the time she was released from prison.
Thelma Huse and Tony Mist, both 69, from Mytchett, Surrey, were heading to Charmouth, Dorset, for a glamping trip to celebrate Mr Mist’s 70th birthday two days later.
Defence lawyer Malcolm Galloway told the court that Higgs, who has no previous convictions, had only had his licence for nine months.
He said she had used cocaine at a party on Saturday night and had gone to work early on Monday morning after going to bed early.
He told her: ‘There was a catastrophic head-on collision which resulted in the deaths of both of them. You were also injured.
‘What is clear from all the impact statements is the heartbreaking devastation that family members and loved ones have suffered.
“They say they were two people with much more life to live and give.”
The judge said character statements provided about Higgs described her as a caring, loving and considerate person.
He added: “Although you have physically recovered, you are consumed by guilt and remorse and are described as a shadow of the person you once were.”
The judge said Higgs, who cried throughout the court hearing, was driving within the speed limit and other drivers did not notice anything unusual until the van swerved onto the other side of the road.
He told Higgs: ‘I accept that you were unaware that you still had cocaine in your blood, however falling asleep as you did was a consequence of being too tired.’
The court heard Higgs went to a party on May 13 and took cocaine, last using the drug in the early hours of May 14, around 36 hours before the crash.
She went to bed early that day and woke up at 6:00 a.m. before being picked up for work at 6:25 a.m. Later that morning, she was tasked with driving her work van from Salisbury to Axminster.
The court heard Higgs went to a party on May 13 and took cocaine, last using the drug in the early hours of May 14, about 36 hours before the crash.
Higgs collected a water pump at Axminster and rested for an hour before setting off back to Salisbury at 2pm.
Prosecutor Rupert Russell said Mist would have had “no time or space to avoid the collision” once Higgs’ van crossed the white line.
He told the court that Higgs had been “up all night from Saturday to Sunday taking cocaine”, which had made him tired.
“It’s fatigue that clearly led to this tragedy,” Russell said.
The court heard that Mr Mist and Ms Huse had been together for 30 years and were both due to celebrate their 70th birthdays shortly after the collision.
Kate Cory, Ms Huse’s daughter, described how they had been travelling to Charmouth “for a long-awaited glamping holiday” for Mr Mist’s birthday before celebrating Ms Huse’s birthday with a trip to the theatre.
The apprentice electrician pleaded guilty to two charges of causing death by careless driving while under the influence of drugs at Taunton Crown Court.
She added: “Their 30-year love story came to an abrupt end far too soon and that is something none of us will ever get over.”
Malcolm Galloway, representing Higgs, said she was 19 at the time of the collision and had had her driver’s licence for only nine months.
“The remorse is genuine,” Galloway said. “Of course, if I could turn back time, I would.”
Speaking outside court on behalf of the victims’ families, Ms Huse’s ex-husband Jim Huse said they were “devastated by Jessica Higgs’ totally avoidable actions”.
“We hope others will learn from this, as no trip is too important to be undertaken when the brain is compromised by the effects of drugs,” he said.
Tony Hall, a police officer with Avon and Somerset Police, added: “It is the responsibility of every motorist to ensure they are fit enough to drive before getting behind the wheel and it is clear that Higgs was not.
‘This is another painful and devastating reminder that drug-impaired driving is a deadly decision that puts you and innocent road users at grave risk.’
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