'We lost one Jack and we can’t bear to lose another one.'

Hiscock, 24, sat with his head bowed throughout his sentencing at Swindon Crown Court yesterday, which was filled with scores of friends and family who had come to support him.
In an unusual move, the court allowed statements to be read by Steve and Tanya Savage, Jack’s parents.

Pleading with the court to spare Hiscock jail, Steve said: “Jack wants to be punished for his actions. I have tried to look at this in a logical way for the punishment he will have to endure.
“It seems incredible that going to prison is the only option rather than him doing some good with his life and giving back to society.

“Him going to prison is a greater loss for my family and we love him dearly. We lost one Jack and we can’t bear to lose another one.”

Details of the events which led to the death of Jack Savage were read to the court by Hannah Squire, prosecuting.

Statements from police officers in Swindon showed they had spoken to Hiscock that night and assumed he would be taking a taxi home. He was found to be one and a half times over the drink drive limit when breathalised.

That night a lorry had taken the wrong turn when coming off the M4, and the driver had pulled to the side of the road to check his sat-nav, turning his hazard warning lights on.

“Jack Hiscock was travelling in a Ford Fiesta on the A419, and the passenger was his friend, Jack Savage,” said Ms Squire. “He was seen by another witness coming off the M4, a lorry driver who was overtaken by the Ford Fiesta at the junction of the A346.

“At that point are a set of traffic lights, and the witness noticed the vehicle went through the lights while they were on red with no reduction in speed.

“The next time he saw the Ford Fiesta was along the A419, when he saw a cloud of smoke and realised a collision had occurred.

“The Fiesta had collided with the rear of the lorry. The driver of the lorry got out of his vehicle, and the first person he saw was Jack Hiscock, whose first words were ‘I’ve killed him’.

“It then became clear there was a passenger in the car, and it soon became apparent Jack Savage had died on impact.”

A police officer present at the scene heard Hiscock say: “I know I am over the limit. That is my best friend. I have killed him.” He said: “I did not want to drive but Jack wanted to go home.”

Jack Savage’s phone was looked at by police, and showed he had been in contact with a friend at 3.56am, just moments prior to the collision.

When the Fiesta was examined the speedometer was stuck at a reading of 38 miles per hour, which was the speed of the vehicle at the time of the collision. There were a number of skid marks on the road, indicating at the very last minute Hiscock had tried to avoid the impact. The collision report indicates the car was travelling at 47 miles an hour before Hiscock started to brake. The lorry would have been in Hiscock’s view for 16 seconds prior to impact.

Andrew Hobson, defending, said: “It is a rare position to submit a plea in a case of this gravity where the parents of the victim are asking the court not to send the perpetrator to prison.

“On behalf of Hiscock I salute the parents of Jack Savage and his family for the compassion they have shown in what has been said to the court and the way they have treated my client.

“He, like his friend, is a young man, at the threshold of his life. He is utterly remorseful about what he has done, and that cannot be put into words.

“He has told me if there was any way he could take back what happened or even change places with Jack Savage, he would do so in a heartbeat.

“These two young men were more than close friends. They were akin to being brothers. Most of the people in court are friends of both of them, which is indicative to the close relationship between these two young brothers.

“They first met when Jack Savage was 11, and spent a great deal of time together. The fact Hiscock has ended the life of his young friend is something that he will have to bear for the rest of his life. Whatever punishment the court imposes on him today will perhaps be dwarfed by the magnitude of the pain he has suffered.”

Judge Douglas Field, sentencing, said: “This case is a very tragic story. I do not think I have had so many people in my court for a long time.

“You had a long standing relationship with Jack Savage. In many ways he was like your brother, and as a result of your driving you killed him. His family miss him dreadfully. You miss him dreadfully.

"I am very impressed by the compassion shown by Mr and Mrs Savage. They are having to cope with their grief and go from day to day without having their son, but they have taken the trouble to come to court to tell me they do not want to see you sentenced because it would mean you have been removed from their lives for a period of time, rather than a permanent basis like their son. You have feelings of guilt that will stay with you for the rest of your days.

“You foolishly decided to drive home. Later you foolishly agreed to give Jack Savage a lift. If you had been paying attention you would have been able to avoid the lorry.

“You and your family have to realise I am under a statutory duty to apply sentencing guidelines. I have no personal choice in this matter.

“There is not enough here to allow me to make the exceptional step of passing a suspended sentence.

“Having taken into account all the mitigation, I must sentence you to 28 months in prison.”
Hiscock was also disqualified from driving for three years and made to pay a victim surcharge of £120.

Speaking after the sentence, Tanya Savage said they understood the sentence had to be passed.

“He has got his statute to follow, but hopefully what we did did some good for Jack,” she said.

“Anything we could have done we were going to do.

“It was a battle to get up there and speak, and everything we said we meant. It came from the heart. We are the voice of our Jack now, and it is what he would have wanted.”