Rowan Grant was jailed for ten years and disqualified from driving for life
Rowan Grant(Image: Nottinghamshire Police )
A ‘selfish’ man who killed an ex-soldier in a car crash had been disqualified from driving since 2011. Nottingham Crown Court was told how disqualified driver Rowan Grant had been weaving in and out of traffic, and had accelerated to 87mph.
This occurred four-and-a-half seconds before he collided with Andrew Lister’s vehicle on the A610 Nuthall Road. NottinghamPost reports the victim, a 36-year-old father, was killed as a result while his partner, Laura Whatton, suffered multiple fractures and spent weeks in hospital.
The 34-year-old defendant, of Bilborough, was also treated by medics and was found to be “considerably over the limit” for the main component of cannabis.
And he even told the police it was not him that was driving the car and instead was his girlfriend who had “run off” from the scene.
Jailing him for 10 years, Judge Stuart Rafferty KC said: “When you decided to drive that car, and from the moment you did drive it, you drove it dangerously.
“You’d had plenty of warnings before.
“Doctors had been saying to you, you had a brain injury, you had epilepsy, and could not survive properly without medication and you, steadfastly, refused to accept that.
“(Instead) you chose to medicate yourself with cannabis.
“I reject your claim that you had suffered an epileptic seizure.
“You were playing Russian roulette with yourself but when you pulled the trigger the bullet hit others and you killed a 36-year-old man.
“His partner, who wanted a life with him, now has no life of her own.
“What did you say to the police? Let me remind you.
“You said ‘I was not driving, it was my girlfriend, she has run off and is making her way to hospital’.
“You were prepared to lie about it.”
Luc Chignell, prosecuting, said the crash happened at the junction of the A610 Nuthall Road and Western Boulevard at about 12.30pm on December 9, last year.
He said vehicles had been queuing at the red traffic lights when a car being driven by the defendant ploughed into the back of Mr Lister’s and then into a number of other vehicles.
The prosecutor said: “Mr Grant resolutely should not have been on the road having been disqualified from driving in 2011 and having been convicted of a number of driving offences since.
“He also suffers epilepsy and suffers documented seizures around twice a week but he refuses to take any medication.
“With that background he chose to drive his partner’s car around the outskirts of Nottingham in a reckless manner and it ended in tragedy when he drove at high speed into a stationary car containing Andrew Lister who was killed and his partner suffered life-changing injuries.
“He swerved into a bus lane rather than wait and could not have known what was coming and a witness described the speed at 60mph to 70mph.
“He undertook a car at excessive speed in a bus lane.
“Four-and-a-half seconds before the collision he accelerated from 75mph to 87mph and, in trying to overtake a bus, went into a lane where a line of traffic was waiting.
“He collided with Mr Lister’s vehicle and further vehicles were hit as well as others in the opposite lane but thankfully no-one else was injured.
“The hospital found him (Grant) to be considerably over the limit for THC (the primary compound of cannabis).”
Mr Chignell said Mr Lister died the following day, despite the best efforts of medics.
He said his partner suffered multiple fractures and was placed on a ventilator.
She had to have vertebrae of her spine fused, the prosecutor said. And when she was released from hospital, after a number of weeks, she needed a walker to get around.
In an impact statement Michael Lister, the victim’s father, said: “On December 9, 2025, our family’s life was torn apart when our beloved Andrew’s life was taken by the selfish and reckless actions of another.
“Andrew served in the army for five years and his zest for life touched everyone.
“He has a daughter who he adored and he had huge enthusiasm to watch Derby County.
“I recently had my 70th birthday and Andrew’s presence was missed.”
In her statement, Laura Whatton, Mr Lister’s injured partner, said: “We had only returned from a holiday in Scotland the day before.
“His death makes me feel angry and confused and I feel cheated out of a life with him.”
Grant, of Melford Road, pleaded guilty to causing death by dangerous driving, causing death while disqualified and while driving without insurance and causing serious injury by dangerous driving.
He has a number of previous convictions including robbery, drugs, possession of an offensive weapon, controlling and coercive behaviour, breaching a restraining order, dangerous driving and a number of other driving matters.
Simon Eckersley, mitigating, said his client was also seriously injured in the crash and said he suffered a seizure at the wheel.
He said: “It can’t be said for certain but he maintains that he did.
“There is no reason he would accelerate into a stationary line of traffic at 87mph.
“Nothing I can say, he can say or his family can say can ameliorate the harm he’s caused and he has asked me to apologise publicly to all those affected by the devastation he’s caused.”
As well as the jail term, the judge disqualified Grant from driving for life.
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