A man whose dangerous driving resulted in the death of a pedestrian in a Cambridge street has today been sentenced to four years and three months in prison

A man whose dangerous driving resulted in the death of a pedestrian has today been sentenced to four years and three months in prison.

Jack Mulcahy, 24, from Capulet Court, Huntingdon, was found guilty of causing death by dangerous driving after a trial at Cambridge Magistrate’s Court on April 29 and was sentenced at the Old Bailey today (May 14).

His victim, Alex Jeffery, 21, of Orchard Road, Melbourn, was fatally injured outside the Cambridge City Hotel, on Downing Street, near the junction with Corn Exchange Street, at around 3.40am on Saturday November 1, 2014.

Alex, who had been out in Cambridge city centre with friends on the night of the incident, was struck by a car being driven by Mulcahy. Mulcahy told the court he drove off and in doing so, the car made a significant move to the left and in the process hit Alex, causing him to fall backwards, hitting his head on the floor as he did so.

Alex was taken by ambulance to Addenbrooke’s Hospital with serious injuries, where he remained until his death on Saturday, November 8.

In addition to his custodial sentence, Mulcahy received a five-year driving disqualification.

The family of Alex Jeffrey released a statement after the sentence hearing, which read: “On the morning of November 1, 2014, at 4.30am we didn’t realise how our lives were going to change, through no fault of ours, or of our loving son Alex.

To have two police officers on our doorstep, telling us our son had been in a “hit and run”, was to be the start of the worst time of our lives.

The arranging of a son’s funeral is something no parent should ever have to do, and the last ever sight of our beautiful son/brother/ friend in the chapel of rest, is forever fixed in our minds.

Alex will always be remembered as a caring, loving, hard worker, with a great sense of humour and a promising career and life ahead of him, which was taken away far too soon.

As a family we are extremely proud of Alex and what he achieved in his short life – he will forever be in our hearts.

We, as a family, have found the whole experience of attending court for our son’s murder trial an extremely traumatic experience.

None of us will overcome the loss of Alex, he was a special son, brother, grandson and friend to many. To lose Alex in this manner and then have a court case attached to his death has made the grieving process a public rather than private matter.

We would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone for their support during this difficult period in our lives.”