Kane Farragher was 14 times over the limit and hit speeds of 136mph the wrong way on the A19 before crashing into a taxi, killing girlfriend Taylor Jenkins.
13:56, 01 May 2026Updated 14:53, 01 May 2026
Taylor Jenkins died in the head-on collision(Image: Northumbria Police / PA Wire)
A banned driver high on drugs reached speeds of 136mph while being pursued by police before he went the wrong way down a dual carriageway and killed his girlfriend in a head-on crash, a court heard. Kane Farragher, 24, was jailed for 12 years and nine months at Newcastle Crown Court after he admitted causing the death by dangerous driving of Taylor Jenkins, who was a front seat passenger when he crashed into a taxi on the A19 near Sunderland.
Farragher’s friend in the back seat was also badly injured in the collision which happened in the early hours of March 1, when Farragher had raced away from police and was heading south on the north-bound carriageway. Blood sample taken after the crash showed Farragher was excessively over the legal limits for cocaine, cannabis, ecstasy and ketamine, the court heard.
Kane Farragher in a police interview after the crash.(Image: Northumbria Police)
His reading for a breakdown of cocaine was around 14 times over the legal limit, 12 times over the MDMA limit, more than twice the limit for ketamine and 40% over the limit for cannabis, the court heard. Kevin Wardlaw, prosecuting, said the BMW that Farragher was driving triggered an automatic camera notification on Tyneside that it was a vehicle of interest to Police Scotland.
Northumbria Police officers attempted to stop the car on the Felling by-pass in Gateshead but Farragher drove into a coned-off section of the carriageway and sped away to avoid being boxed in. Reaching speeds of up to 136mph, Farragher evaded the pursuit which was called off when he headed the wrong way down the A19.
The court heard the fatal collision with a taxi happened near to a Nissan factory, around seven miles from where the pursuit had started and one mile from where he joined the A19. Mr Wardlaw did not outline Ms Jenkins’ injuries but said she died from the impact and the rear passenger suffered skull and rib fractures but Farragher was largely unhurt, trapped in the driver’s seat by the airbag.
The defendant, who held his head in his hands for much of the sentencing which he followed on a link from prison, was disqualified from driving at the time, having been banned for four years in 2023. In 2021, he was convicted of aggravated vehicle taking and dangerous driving after police tried to stop him and others riding stolen motorbikes dangerously.
In interview with police, Farragher denied being the driver but he was to admit causing death by dangerous driving, drug-driving offences, driving while disqualified and causing serious injury to his friend at a previous court hearing. The court heard that Farragher grew up in a socially deprived area of Merseyside, that his mother was jailed and that he lived with his grandmother until her death.
The scene on the A19 near Sunderland(Image: Newcastle Chronicle)
Aged around 16, he moved to Scotland, the court heard, where he was to meet Ms Jenkins. Judge Penny Moreland said the couple travelled with friends to Newcastle for an event that night.
She told him: “You made a deliberate decision to ignore the rules of the road. There was a complete disregard of the dangers to others.”
She said it was a prolonged course of action, “driving in the wrong direction, at high speed, on a dual carriageway, at night”, and that his judgment must have been impaired by drugs. Judge Moreland said: “You undertook a lengthy course of the most dangerous driving one can imagine.
“You reached speeds of up to 130mph in your efforts to get away and travelled southbound on the northbound carriageway.”
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The judge jailed him for 12 years and nine months and banned him from driving for 13 and a half years, after which he must take an extended test. In victim impact statements, family members said Ms Jenkins, who was from Edinburgh, was a keen showjumper and was loving, hard-working and had a beautiful smile.
Her father Williams Jenkins said: “Her loss is beyond anything I can bear.”
And sister Ellis Jenkins added: “The impact of losing her is something I will carry with me forever.”
After the hearing, Northumbria Police released a video clip of Farragher’s interview with officers, in which he said: “I weren’t in that car when it crashed. I can’t be nicked for death by dangerous driving, I was not in that BMW when that had crashed.”
Taylor Jenkins died in the head-on collision(Image: Northumbria Police / PA Wire)
Sergeant Dave Roberts, of the force’s Serious Collision Investigation Unit, said: “Firstly, I would like to express my sincere condolences to all of Taylor’s loved ones – who have suffered unimaginable devastation and pain in the past two months after losing her.
“Taylor was a young woman at only 24 years old – she had her whole life ahead of her, and this has been cruelly taken away by one reckless individual.
“Thanks to the overwhelming evidence in this case, Farragher had little choice but to admit his guilt at court, despite initially denying he was ever in the car or driving it.
“He even went as far as trying to shamelessly offer money to the officer detaining him, in a ridiculous attempt to get out of the situation.
“As a banned driver, he should never have been behind the wheel that night – and the cocktail of drugs found in his system following the crash was truly shocking.
“While no outcome at court will ever take away the trauma of what has happened, I hope the fact that Farragher is behind bars offers some form of closure.
“We will do all we can to crackdown on dangerous drivers and ensure they are made to face consequences for their actions.”
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