'Deplorable' driver is jailed over road death of grandad

Joshua Alex Mewes (21) was travelling at 65mph — over twice the speed limit — when he hit Robert John Kolt on Doncaster Road, Dalton, on March 18 last year.

He was sentenced at Sheffield Crown Court this afternoon (Monday), having admitted one count of causing death by dangerous driving last summer.

Mr Kolt had just alighted from a bus outside Silverwood Miners’ Welfare Club at 8.20pm when Mewes’ red Honda Civic hit him.

The court heard that Mewes, of Highfield Park in Maltby, was of previous good character, with no convictions.

But social media posts made both before and after the crash suggested a tendency towards aggressive driving.

The Recorder of Sheffield, Judge Jeremy Richardson QC, described Mewes’ driving on the night he hit Mr Kolt — in dark and wet conditions — as “deplorable”.

He added: “This is the case of a comprehensively immature and irresponsible young man who had, in my judgement, a habit of driving aggressively and far too fast.

“It must be made very clear to this defendant and others like him that those who drive far too fast and engage in egregious, aggravated driving will be punished very hard by the courts.”

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