A divorced dad who juggled two jobs to raise his three children and pay off mortgage debts crashed his car and killed a renowned professor after falling asleep at the wheel.
Simon Westcarr, 51, had finished his nine-and-a-half hour night-shift in a warehouse and was on his 53-mile journey to start his day-shift at a museum when he collided with a car driven by 67-year-old Oxford University Professor Martin Brasier.
Prosecutor Peter Coombe told Oxford Crown Court that Prof Brasier, renowned for his discovery of the oldest microfossil at 3.4 billion years old, was killed in the collision and his wife, Cecilia, suffered serious injuries which required surgery.
Westcarr was jailed for 32 months for causing death by dangerous driving and 16 months for causing serious injury, to run concurrently.