Man jailed for causing Wearside collision which killed his girlfriend
Kane Farragher, from Merseyside, was driving the wrong way down the A19 when the collision happened
Last updated 1st May 2026
A man's been jailed for almost 13 years for causing a crash on the A19 in Sunderland earlier this year - where his girlfriend was killed.
Kane Farragher, from Merseyside was also disqualified from driving for over 13 years, after admitting multiple driving offences.
The vehicle – a white BMW M135 – failed to stop when instructed by police and a pursuit was subsequently authorised.
Kevin Wardlaw, prosecuting, said the BMW M135 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 the 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.
A short time later, the car was sighted travelling south on the northbound carriageway of the A19 in Sunderland, before colliding with a grey Volkswagen Sharan.
Emergency services attended where a female passenger from the BMW – Taylor Jenkins, 24, from Edinburgh – had died at the scene.
A male passenger from the car, aged in his 20s, was rushed to hospital after sustaining life-changing injuries.
Kane Farragher was arrested in the aftermath nearby, despite being captured on body worn video telling officers he was not involved.
The now 24-year-old went on to deny his involvement in police interview, insisting he was not in the car when it had crashed.
Despite this, he was charged with causing death by dangerous driving, causing death by driving whilst disqualified/uninsured, causing serious injury by dangerous driving, and causing death by careless driving while over the limit for cocaine, a cocaine breakdown product, cannabis, ketamine and MDMA and cannabis.
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.”
Farragher, of Birkenhead in Merseyside, was remanded into custody and today appeared before the same court where a judge sentenced him to 12 years and nine months in prison. He was also handed a 13-year driving ban and must sit an extended test in the future.
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.
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.”
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.”
Taylor’s family described her as “beautiful, smart hardworking, loyal and ambitious” – and someone who brought “warmth and light wherever she went”.
They spoke of “all the milestones she will miss” and how her death has “left a permanent hole” in their lives.
The family expressed their pain at having to “relive the moment of losing her every day” even when having “sightings of a similar car”, “driving on a motorway at night” and “the passing of an accident.”
Taylor’s family shared how losing her “is beyond anything” they can bear, and how “the silence she has left behind is overwhelming”.
They added: “Taylor will never have the chance to get married, to have the family she so desperately wanted, to live the full life she deserved.”
They said how “that loss” and “that empty future” is something they will grieve for the rest of their lives.
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.”
Sgt Roberts added: “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.”
As is a matter of course in incidents of this nature, the Force referred the case to the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC), who continue to conduct an independent investigation.