A KILLER driver has been jailed over the death of a much-loved father who was hit at the roadside while changing a tyre on his van.

Shane White, 54, ploughed into 31-year-old Pontypool dad Mark Rowley after he’d broken down on a country lane outside Abergavenny.

The defendant was sent to prison for five years after being found guilty of causing death by dangerous driving following a trial at Cardiff Crown Court.

White denied committing the offence on the B4269 between Llanellen and Llanfoist, a road known locally as Gypsy Lane, at around 5.30pm on Wednesday, March 10, 2021.

Mr Rowley had broken down and was leaning into his Ford Transit van to get a jack while changing one of his tyres when he was hit.

South Wales Argus:

Mark Rowley

He died from his injuries a week later on March 17, 2021 at the University Hospital Wales, Cardiff.

White, of Coopers Way, Llanfoist had been on his was to pick up a KFC takeaway in a Fiat Punto when he struck Mr Rowley.

During the trial Janet McDonald, prosecuting, said he was to blame for Mr Rowley’s death for driving too fast in wet weather conditions.

She told the jury: “The defendant had the time to brake, he had the time to reduce his speed.

South Wales Argus: Shane White

Shane White. Picture: Wales News Service

“He chose to overtake without knowing what was coming.”

“His driving was an obvious risk.”

A victim impact statement was read out on behalf of Mr Rowley’s mother Michelle Rowley.

She said her son had to wait for an hour and a quarter for an ambulance to take him to the Grange University Hospital in Cwmbran.

“We nearly lost him when he was three when he had meningitis,” Mrs Rowley told the court.

The family couldn’t see her son after he was transferred to the University Hospital of Wales, Cardiff because of Covid restrictions.

“I can’t imagine how alone he must have felt,” she said. “We then got the worst news imaginable that he had passed away."

She added: “Mark’s death was avoidable and we will never recover from it.”

Four hundred friends and family lined the streets to mourn the popular figure, a keen rugby player with New Panteg, at his funeral.

White decided not to give evidence and his defence was that the crash was “unavoidable”.

The court heard the defendant has 78 previous convictions for 28 offences, including dangerous driving and driving while disqualified.

Nigel Fryer, representing White, said: “He expresses his profound regret and remorse.

“He is a man who will have to live with the consequences of his actions of that day.”

Judge Shomon Khan told White: “Mr Rowley was a young man with a young family and he had his whole life ahead of him.

“It’s heart-breaking to hear about all those who have lost Mark – my sympathies go out to his family.

“Mr Rowley’s death was entirely avoidable.”

White was banned from driving for eight years and three months.