A disqualified driver who admitted killing a young mum in a horror crash after falling asleep at the wheel has been told he faces jail.
Edward Carty, 30, had been driving for 14 hours without a break before the smash on the A90 near Errol, Perthshire, on August 12, 2022.
Rebecca Tasker, 32, was in the back seat of her car with her two children, aged seven and 10, when the Nissan they were travelling in veered off the road and careered down an embankment hitting two trees. There was also a teenage passenger in the front of the car.
The High Court in Glasgow heard members of the public were able to pull her children out of the vehicle unharmed while Carty’s friend, 19-year-old Lucas Hollings, managed to free himself from the wreckage.
However, Ms Tasker was pronounced dead at the scene having suffered two spinal injuries, a severe neck injury and blunt force trauma to several ribs.
Carty later posted on social media app TikTok that he had fallen asleep.
He pleaded guilty to causing her death by dangerous driving when he appeared at the High Court in Glasgow on Monday.
The court heard that Carty, his pals, Ms Tasker and her kids had travelled from Arbroath, Angus, to Lochinver in Sutherland, before making the return journey.
Prosecutor Ruaridh Ferguson said: ‘During the journey, Carty did not rest and had driven for around 14 hours.’
Carty, who was banned from the road at the time of the incident, drove at 80mph in a 70mph zone at the time of the crash.
The car was seen drifting towards the edge of the road and he tried to correct its course before crossing over into another lane with another attempt to steady the vehicle.
Mr Ferguson said: ‘The vehicle started to veer in an anti-clockwise direction before crossing the grass verge and a path.’
The car then turned 90 degrees and went backwards.
Mr Ferguson told the court: ‘At this point, the car collided with a tree causing damage to the door and the tree. The contact with the tree stopped the vehicle rotating.’
But the car continued to travel backwards down the embankment before smashing into another tree.
Witnesses rushed to the scene to help the casualties but Ms Tasker could not be freed from the wreckage and was thought to have been rendered unconscious by her injuries.
Carty was taken to hospital for surgery to his leg. He also suffered a stroke.
The hearing was told that he broadcast himself on TikTok in September 2022 when he discussed the incident with a woman.
He said: ‘I fell asleep behind the wheel, but I pulled over 15 times asking my girlfriend to drive but she wouldn’t drive even though it was her car.’
Mr Ferguson stated to the court that Carty failed to take any rest.
Brian Bell, defending, told the court: ‘He accepts full responsibility, the comment about asking her to drive – he doesn’t remember that.
‘He recalls saying it on TikTok but he doesn’t recall asking her to drive.’
Sentence was deferred pending background reports until next month at the High Court in Edinburgh.
Judge Lord Young said: ‘You will be aware that custody is inevitable for an offence of this gravity.’
Carty, of Blackburn, Lancashire, was disqualified from driving and remanded in custody meantime.
After Ms Tasker’s death, tributes poured in on social media from loved ones with cousin Alana Dempster saying: ‘My heart is broken.’
Shellie Lyon said: ‘She was amazing and will be missed loads. Such an amazing woman and mother gone far too soon.’
Hayley Milne commented: ‘Such a shame thoughts are with her family and those wee kiddies! She was such a funny wee character.’
The A90 is one of Scotland’s most deadly roads with a number of serious accidents every year.