Drug abuse driver faces jail

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by Change | 19 Nov 2008

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Nicholas Smith faces a "substantial" sentence after killing a 21-year-old motorist in a collision partially caused by cocaine and heroin abuse.

A motorist currently faces a prison sentence for killing a young man after driving while experiencing health effects brought on by the previous night's substance abuse.

Nicholas Smith has pleaded guilty to causing the death of Robert Harrington in a head-on collision near Peterborough, the Evening Telegraph reports.

The court was told the driver was suffering from the effects of a heart defect, caused by his heroin and cocaine abuse, when he swerved onto the wrong side of the road.

According to the news provider, the defendant was warned he could receive a "substantial" prison sentence.

Mr Smith suffered from a condition named "heart block" which he knew would be brought on by the heroin and cocaine abuse he had engaged in the day before.

The source reveals expert medical evidence suggested substance abuse "would undoubtedly have exacerbated" his heart condition.

Kevin Frost, the stepfather of the deceased, claims Mr Harrington's family want to see the driver imprisoned for as long as possible.

"He knew what he was doing when he took the drugs and when he got behind the wheel of that car," he states.

Earlier in the month, a study conducted by the Central Institute of Mental Health suggests 25 per cent more people with cocaine addictions possess a particular genetic marker than those who do not engage in this form of substance abuse.

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