A drug driver killed his woman passenger in a crash on their way home from an overnight stay in Brighton after he working himself up into a jealous rage.
Terry Majors, 40, lost control of his white Ford Fiesta, on the A27 Pevensey bypass, veered off the road into trees and left Cheryl Brookes dead.
Majors, who was over the limit for cannabis, could be heard abusing the frightened 35-year-old mother of two as she made a frantic mobile phone call to relatives.
She said: “He’s driving like a lunatic. He is doing 100mph and is scaring me.”
In text messages to a friend, she said that Majors had become “jealous” and “paranoid” before he left Brighton in a rage.
He lost his temper after he saw another man look at her Instagram and hit high speeds on the drive back from Brighton on Friday 9 July 2021.
Majors appeared to try to overtake another vehicle but lost control and crashed into trees by the Hankham Hall Road bridge over the A27.
Terry Lee Majors, of Marina, St Leonards, pleaded guilty to causing death by dangerous driving at Lewes Crown Court on Wednesday 19 April.
Judge Christine Laing, the honorary recorder of Brighton and Hove, jailed Majors for causing the death of the mother and grandmother.
He was jailed for three years and eight months and banned from driving for five and a half years.
Cheryl Brookes’s family said that she was a “kind-hearted, caring and loving person, always there for people and always putting others before herself”.
Witnesses had described Majors erratic and dangerous driving between leaving the hotel and the collision. It included overtaking and undertaking other vehicles at high speed.
Cheryl Brookes died in the crash. Majors was injured and taken to hospital, Sussex Police said, where a blood test found that he was over the limit for cannabis.
Cheryl Brookes’s brother, William Brookes, 38, of Eastbourne, thanked the emergency services who responded to the incident.
In a victim impact statement, he said: “Cheryl was the life and soul of every party. She was the glue that held us all together.
“Her children are devastated and her grandchildren will grow up without knowing their grandmother.”
After the case, PC Dave Symonds, from the Serious Collision Investigation Unit, said: “It is never just a crash, especially for those left picking up the pieces.
“Majors caused the events that led to the death of Cheryl Brookes which could have been easily avoided.
“This case shows the dangers of driving while over the prescribed limit for drugs and highlights the responsibility of drivers to drive safely in order to protect other road users, themselves and their passengers.
“The family of Cheryl will carry their loss forever.”
