Stacey Deavin jailed for killing boyfriend in head-on crash

Stacey Deavin, 36, of Meadowside Court, Basingstoke, crashed head-on with Jennifer Olive, 52, on the wrong side of Roman Way at 6.53pm on January 8, 2022.

Both parties, including Miss Olive's 82-year-old father, suffered significant injuries and Deavin's boyfriend Reid Logue, 23, died of a catastrophic brain injury in hospital a week later.

Deavin was jailed for eight years after pleading guilty to causing death by careless driving while over the prescribed alcohol limit at Salisbury Crown Court on Thursday, November 2. She was also banned from driving for nine years and ordered to take an extended re-test before receiving a licence again.

Mr Logue, of Tiverton Road, Basingstoke, had been drinking with his cousin and friends in the White Hart Inn as his grandfather had died the day before, January 7, when Deavin got kicked out of another pub and came to pick him up.

Deavin was almost two and a half times over the drink-drive limit and had consumed cocaine in the hours leading up to the crash but the court heard how she drove away from the White Hart Inn car park without turning her Ford Focus' headlights on, despite it being around 6.40pm and dark outside.

Deavin drove out of the White Hart Inn car park, onto Worting Road. (Image: Google Maps)

She sped down Roman Way and crossed the central reservation into the oncoming southbound lane before crashing into Miss Olive's Honda.

The court heard how Deavin would have had two and a half seconds to react to the oncoming vehicle but made no attempt to avoid Miss Olive and she also has no recollection of the crash.

In an interview following Deavin's arrest on January 17, nine days after she was discharged from hospital, she told police: "I always used to go to the pub and drink drive home. It's just something we used to do."

Mr Logue was described as a "much-loved son and nephew" and his death has had a devastating impact on his family.

A victim impact statement from Mr Logue's sister Devan read: "Never a day will go by where I don't wake and think of him. The impact of my brother's death has completely turned my world upside down."

Aunt Bonnie McGregor said the "small but close" family was "torn apart" following Mr Logue's death. She said: "Reid was very upset about his granddad's death. Unfortunately, he left his friends and made the biggest mistake of his young life getting into that car."

Deavin, who cried in the dock for the duration of her court hearing, was Reid and Devon's babysitter who had lived a "deeply troubled" childhood and struggled with mental health issues since the age of 16.

Stacey Deavin told police she always used to drink drive home. (Image: Hampshire Police)

Adrienne Knight, defending, said her client had attempted suicide two times after she was arrested and feels "extreme guilt" for what she has done. 

Deavin was later diagnosed with an emotionally unstable personality disorder and told Miss Knight: "I wish it was me, not Reid. I miss him. I want to kill myself. I just want to die."

The court heard a character reference from Hailey Livingstone who had known Deavin for 17 years. She said: "It's so easy to demonise someone's entire life based on the worst mistake they have ever made.

"She knows no punishment will ever be enough. She isn't a terrible person she's a person who made a terrible mistake."

Miss Olive now uses a wheelchair after suffering a serious pilon fracture to her ankle and her father, who has dementia, requires 24-hour support from a live-in carer and must wear a neck brace indefinitely. He was completely independent before the crash.

The court heard how Miss Olive lives with her father but their money to afford care is quickly running out.

"I struggle with pain from my injuries every day. It has shattered us physically, emotionally, financially and I don't know if we will ever feel the same again," she said.

Judge Peter Dugdale took no time away from the courtroom to decide Deavin's sentence. He said: "What the Logue family suffered in a 48-hour period is very hard to fathom and it's one of the terrible sadnesses in this case.

"People talk about justice and how courts can deliver justice but in a case like this, the court simply can't. The court simply does not have the ability to put right what went so terribly wrong. I can't give you what you want and what you deserve."

Judge Dugdale said Deavin was "wholly incapable" of driving a car on the night she killed Mr Logue and that she "should have never got behind the driver's seat".

He added: "We really thought the message had gone out to everybody that if you drink alcohol you do not drive a car. All this happened because someone got into a car when they were drunk and drove it off."

PC Kelly Hargreaves, of the Joint Operations Roads Policing Unit, said: "She would have known that she was over the limit, as she had been drinking in the pub just before the collision.

"I hope this makes other people think twice before thinking they could just drive home from the pub. Even if it is just a five-minute journey, it's not worth the risk."