A Dundee thief yelled “Oh my god I’ve killed him, Oh my god, he’s dead”, after his accomplice died in a crash during a high-speed police chase.
26-year-old Andrew King was killed in the crash on January 5 last year.
He was the passenger in a car driven by Dean Small, 32.
The pair had earlier stolen a quantity of cable from the SSE substation in Baird Avenue, Dundee.
Police followed the pair through the streets of Dundee at speeds in excess of 60mph before calling off the chase on safety grounds.
However Small’s Ford Fiesta, which was attached to a trailer at the time, was spotted turning into Camperdown Park’s north entrance and officers followed.
There they came upon the vehicle, which had crashed into a tree near the golfer’s car park after Small lost control while negotiating a bend with his headlights switched off.
Advocate depute Steven Borthwick told the High Court in Edinburgh Mr King had slid into the passenger footwell as a result of the impact.
He said: “The police officers could not detect a pulse and there were no signs of life.
“Due to his position no CPR could be performed, nor any lifesaving techniques attempted.
“When the accused Dean Small regained consciousness and became aware of the condition of Andrew King he was shouting ‘Oh my God I’ve killed him, I’ve killed him… oh my God he’s dead’.
“At 11.30pm paramedics pronounced Andrew King’s life extinct at the scene.”
A post-mortem found Mr King had died of head and spinal injuries caused by the crash.
Small suffered a collapsed lung, broken arm and ribs.
Later tests found he was drunk and had cannabis in his system at the time of the crash.
‘Extensive damage’ to car
Investigators found the speedometer of the car had locked at 50mph, indicating a “significant collision – indicative of high speed”.
They found the car’s engine and gearbox had been forced backwards, the car’s dashboard and steering wheel had entered the passenger cabin and the floor and roof of the vehicle were buckled.
They also found neither Small nor Mr King had been wearing seatbelts.
Relatives of Mr King who attended the High Court in Edinburgh wept as they heard details of his death.
They did not comment as they left court later.
Small admitted causing Mr King’s death by dangerous driving on January 5 last year.
‘He asks me to say sorry’
His defence counsel Susan Duff said he had intended to plead guilty from the start to spare Mr King’s family any further pain.
She said: “Dean Small has asked me to say to the family and friends of Andrew King how sorry he is for what happened and his role in Mr King’s death.
“He told me he was going to plead guilty as he did not want Mr King’s family and friends to suffer more than they have already.
“He’s under no illusions of the sentence your Lordship will have in mind and is very well aware of the seriousness of his actions.
“His actions resulted in the death of a friend and he suffers daily in the knowledge of that.”
Drink and drugs
Small pled guilty to causing death by dangerous driving while he was towing a trailer in the city’s Faraday Street, Coupar Angus Road and within Camperdown Park.
He failed to stop for a marked police vehicle, despite officers turning on their blue lights and sirens, and tool multiple measures to evade police during the chase, including driving the wrong way round a roundabout and turning off his headlights.
The police chase ended when Small drove too fast on a bend and lost control before crashing into a tree in Camperdown Park.
Later tests found Small, of Landsdowne Square, Dundee, was high on cannabis and well above the legal drink drive limit at the time of the crash.
Investigators found he had 5.8 mics of THC – the active ingredient in cannabis – per litre of blood in his system. The legal limit is 2.
He also had 115 mg of alcohol per 100 ml of blood in his system, more than four times the legal limit of 50.
Judge Lord Sandison deferred sentence until next month for reports and Small was remanded in custody.
The crash was referred to the Police Investigations and Review Commissioner to examine the police involvement.
