Drunk woman jailed over friend's car crash death

Karla Dodds was driving six others people to a party in her hatchback when she crashed into a lamppost and flipped the car

A drunk woman who killed a friend in a crash then fled the scene has been jailed.

Karla Dodds was driving six others people to a party in her hatchback when she crashed into a lamppost and flipped the car, killing Truman Hub at New York, North Tyneside, in November 2022.

Newcastle Crown Court heard she had not learned her lesson when almost exactly two years later and while waiting for trial, she was stopped by police for speeding and found to be twice over the limit for cannabis.

Dodds, 25, was found guilty of causing death by dangerous driving and jailed on Friday for 12 years. She was also banned from driving for 13 years and nine months.

The court heard Dodds had finished a shift at a bar in Whitley Bay and later went to a nightclub where she claimed to have drunk two glasses of wine and two tequila shots.

She then crammed six people into her Hyundaii i10 - with one person in the boot and four on the back seat - before losing control of the car on the A191 near North Tyneside General Hospital.

Dodds, from Links Avenue in Whitley Bay, fled the scene leaving Mr Hub, 22, fatally injured.

Truman Hub's family said he was "full of sunshine, laughter, mischief and love"

A breath test showed she was twice over the legal drink-drive limit and a police video showed her repeatedly asking "who's dead?" when she was arrested.

Judge Roger Thomas KC said she was "highly intoxicated" behind the wheel, had been driving too fast and was convicted "on the back of overwhelming evidence".

He said it was loud in the car, people were singing and the front seat passenger had asked her to slow down before she crashed.

'Self-pity rather than remorse'

James Doyle, defending, said Dodds acknowledged she must change and "seek calmer waters within herself" and felt remorse.

But the judge said there was no evidence to support that, replying: "She left the scene and ran away, she did her best to get away with it."

He said Dodds' conviction for drug driving after the fatal crash were also telling.

"Everything about the case shows self-pity rather than true remorse," he added.

'Wicked and cowardly'

In a victim statement read in court, Mr Hub's mother Rozalind said: "Truman was full of sunshine, laughter, mischief and love whose presence would light up any room."

She called Dodds' decision to run after the crash "wicked and cowardly".

"I think it is only natural that we feel hostile, anger and even hatred towards [her], we can never forgive her for cutting our son's life so short," she added.

Following sentencing, Sgt Dave Roberts of Northumbria Police said Dodds "demonstrated her lack of remorse after what happened, having been caught drug-driving while waiting for her trial date at court".

"She was convicted in January of this year having been found to be driving under the influence of drugs last November, just two years on."