Jasmine Dessaure, a US Air Force servicewoman based at RAF Mildenhall, pleaded guilty in July 2026 to two offences of causing death by careless driving.
In April 2023, Ms Dessaure was driving her Jeep Cherokee within the speed limit on a single-carriageway country road in Suffolk when she allowed the vehicle to drift too close to the left-hand side of her lane. The nearside wheels of her vehicle left the road and entered a trough filled with rainwater. That caused Ms Dessaure to steer sharply to the right in order to rejoin the road, which put the vehicle into a ‘yaw’. A number of steering overcorrections and counter ‘yaw’ motions of the car resulted in it entering the oncoming lane, where it collided head on with an approaching vehicle driven by the deceased couple, both of whom died at the scene.
Ali Bajwa KC acted for Ms Dessaure throughout the proceedings and mitigated for her at her sentencing hearing before HHJ Enright on 9 October 2026. He emphasised the relatively low level of her culpability, her efforts to aid the deceased at the scene, excellent character, profound remorse, prospects in her work, and early guilty pleas.
The court was persuaded to impose a suspended sentence of 12 months’ imprisonment.
Ali Bajwa KC was instructed and assisted by Unan Choudhury and Ola Oladimeji of Lewis Nedas Solicitors.
The case has been widely reported in national press:
Ali Naseem Bajwa KC