Banned driver in stolen Maserati who killed pensioner jailed

A disqualified driver who caused the death of a great-grandfather after crashing into his garden in a stolen Maserati sports car has been jailed for 13-and-a-half years.

Fraser Garden killed 74-year-old John Bell, also known as Jack, in Broughty Ferry, near Dundee, when the crash happened in April.

The High Court in Edinburgh was told Garden, who had 90 previous convictions and two previous lifetime driving bans, had taken cocaine and was driving at almost three times the speed limit.

Judge Lord Braid told the 55-year-old that he had stolen the life of a man in what should have been the sanctuary of his own garden.

He said the victim’s family would have to “endure a life sentence of pain from which they will never truly recover”.

The court heard that Garden had never passed a driving test or held a driving licence.

He previously admitted to causing Bell’s death by dangerous driving.

Lord Braid banned Garden from driving for 56 years and nine months.

The court was told that Garden had been released on bail over multiple shoplifting charges a week before the fatal crash.

On the day of the collision in Forthill Road he had stolen a Maserati Quattroporte from the nearby West End Garage.

He drove the car at speed, overtaking vehicles and forcing his way between oncoming traffic on various Broughty Ferry roads.

Garden then drove through a red light before speeding up a hill on the wrong side of the road and losing control of the car.

The Maserati clipped the kerb, hit a traffic island, and crashed through a hedge into Bell’s garden, hitting the pensioner and pinning him to a wall.

The court heard that Bell’s wife, who had also been in the garden, found him seconds after the crash trapped between the car and a wall. He was pronounced dead at the scene.

Garden later tested negative for alcohol but positive for cocaine, and refused to give a blood sample when he was taken to hospital.

Data downloaded from the car by police revealed it had been travelling at 85mph (136km/h) in a 30mph (48km/h) zone in the 3.5 seconds before the collision.

The court was told previously that John Bell was married with three children, 10 grandchildren and nine great-grandchildren.

He had retired in 2020 after almost 30 years working as a taxi driver, and had previously worked as a bus conductor.

Lord Braid paid tribute to Bell’s family who attended court.

He said the pensioner’s wife and some of his children and grandchildren had provided victim impact statements in which they spoke “movingly and eloquently” about the grief and pain they had suffered, describing it as a “void which can never be filled.”

He said Garden had an “atrocious record, having accrued more than 90 convictions over the past 38 years, encompassing approximately twice that number of offences.”

The judge said he had committed 11 vehicle theft offences and an “eye-watering” 150 other offences of dishonesty, mainly shoplifting.

He added that 64 of Garden’s convictions involved a breach of bail.

“You have committed the offence of driving while disqualified on no fewer than 10 occasions,” he said.

Lord Braid said that on the day he was killed, Bell was carrying out a maintenance task for a neighbour “as an act of kindness, as he was wont to do”.

He was in good health and had been making plans with his wife to celebrate their diamond wedding anniversary in two years’ time.

Addressing Garden, he said: “Tragically, that picture of domestic happiness and normality was about to be shattered, forever, by you.

“You not only stole a car on 13 April 2026; you stole a kind, loving and much-loved man from his wife, his two sons and one daughter; his 10 adult grandchildren; and his nine great grandchildren.”

Defence solicitor advocate Graeme Brown told the court his client knew he was facing a “substantial” prison sentence.

“There is no sentence which this court can impose which will diminish the pain or suffering being experienced by Mr Bell’s family,” he added.