An agriculture college student has been jailed for killing a friend in an 87 mph crash after they celebrated the end of exams.

 

Jacob Gwennap drove at ‘grossly excessive’ speeds on country roads and through the village of East Budleigh before he lost control as he crossed a bridge.

 

Front seat passenger and fellow student Vinnie Dennis died instantly when his car hit a wall with an impact which was so great that the engine was ripped out of the Ford Fiesta.

 

Gwennap was just 19 at the time and had moved from his home on a farm in West Cornwall to study at Bicton College.

 

He was also injured in the crash but two other passengers in the back seat escaped with cuts and bruises. One of them had pleaded with Gwennap to slow down in the moments before the impact.

 

A tracker device on Gwennap’s car showed he reached 72 mph on the college drive, which has a 20 mph limit and its last reading was 87 mph in the 30 mph zone in where the crash happened.

 

Vinnie Dennis was aged just 18 and had just finished his first year at Bicton when he died in May 2021. He came from Combe Martin, North Devon, but had been living at the college three days a week and working on a nearby farm for two days.

 

He came from Ilfracombe, North Devon, where he was a popular member of his local Young Farmer Club. His friends organised a parade of tractors to accompany his funeral procession a month after he died.

 

His mother Ruth Chugg wrote an impact statement which said: “At 3 am the doorbell rang and everything changed forever. The police told me what nobody wants to hear. I could not believe it. It was devastating.

 

“Losing a child is not the right order of things. We were all devastated and his brother and sister are struggling to cope. The whole thing is so unnecessary.”

 

Gwennap, aged 20, of Trevervan Farm, St Buryan, near Penzance, admitted causing death by dangerous driving and was jailed for four years and four months and banned from driving for five years after his release by Judge Timothy Rose at Exeter Crown Court.

 

He told him: “You were driving at utterly excessive speed and therefore in a most dangerous way. For most of the journey you were going at 80 to 90 mph.

 

“The speed at the time of impact was most likely 87 mph and the road conditions were absolutely unsuitable for anything remotely close to that speed.

 

“You drove with intense disregard for the safety of other road users and your passengers. This was deliberate and flagrant disregard for the rules of the road.

 

“You extinguished a life which was so full of promise and with such a bright future. The impact has been unspeakable for his family and friends. Nothing I can do or say today can begin to alleviate their dreadful suffering.”

 

Mr Lee Bremridge, prosecuting, said both Gwennap and Vinnie had spent the day celebrating the end of exams on May 26 last year and although others had been drinking, Gwennap was well under the limit.

 

He set off to go to get food in Exmouth at around 10 pm and a back seat passenger heard Vinnie encouraging Gwennap to speed up during the very short journey, in which the passenger was telling him to slow down.

 

He lost control after the car took off as it went over a bridge in the centre of East Budleigh and bottomed out before hitting a wall with what one villager described as ‘an indescribable bang’.

 

Neighbours rushed to help Vinnie but his pulse was already fading and a post mortem examination showed he had fatal head injuries.

 

Mr Jason Beal, defending, said Gwennap himself suffered injuries in the crash and has been so racked by remorse that he has contemplated suicide and  needed treatment for depression.

 

He comes from a farming family and has been provided with 11 references including one from his local rugby club.

 

Mr Beal said Gwennap had lost a friend in the accident and wants to convey his complete regret to Vinnie’s family and friends.