As a father rushed away from the police and slammed into a wall, splitting his Audi RS4 in two, he killed his 16-year-old only kid.
After it was discovered that Craig Melville, 41, was driving at 137 mph right before the collision, he was given a six-year prison sentence.
Craig Junior, his “adored” son, was flung from the car and found in a field some 40 metres away.
Following the crash on the B9176 near Alness in the Scottish Highlands, a 15-year-old girl also sustained injuries that would change her life.
The death of Craig junior ‘is something which will stay with Melville for the rest of his life’, the court was told during sentencing at the High Court in Glasgow.
Tragedy ensued on March 27, 2021, after Melville offered to take his son, the teenage girl and a woman for a drive after a birthday party.
After clocking his car on Ballachraggan Straight, officers ‘formed the view that he was travelling very significantly over the speed limit’, prosecutor Richard Goddard KC said.
He said: ‘Their detection device indicated the car was being driven at 137mph.’
Melville initially slowed on approach after signals for him to do so from officers – but a police chase was started when he then accelerated past them.
A woman who was a passenger in Melville’s car described feeling ‘uncomfortable and scared’ as he was ‘definitely driving too fast’.
Police tried to keep up but lost sight of the Audi before Melville lost control at a right-hand bend with fatal consequences.
The Audi went off the road and hit a stone wall before splitting in two.
The teenage girl suffered burns, multiple fractures and internal injuries after she was trapped under the vehicle.
The woman in the car was left with cuts and bruises, while Melville spent a week in hospital but scans were unable to detect any injuries.
He pleaded guilty in Edinburgh to causing the death of his son and serious injury to the girl by dangerous driving.
Craig Junior often spent time with his father working on cars and had an apprenticeship to train as a mechanic at the time, the court heard.
Neil Wilson, defending, said the tragedy could have ‘ripped the family apart’, but Melville’s family, including his wife, remain ‘entirely supportive’ of him.
He added: ‘He knows what happened is because he was driving too fast.’
Melville’s jail term was cut from nine years to six due to the guilty plea. The dad, from Alness, will also be banned from the road for 13 years.
During sentencing Lord Fairley told Melville, the ‘tragedy was almost unimaginable’, but the only sentence ‘appropriate was one of imprisonment’.
‘Aggravating factors are your earlier conviction for speeding in 2020, the very serious injuries suffered by (the girl) and the reasonable inference that, at the time of the crash, you were trying to outrun a police vehicle’, he said.
‘A substantial mitigating factor is that the person killed was a much-loved family member – your only child.’