My apologies for the poor research. Cahill pleaded NG hence a reduced sentence by upto a third so they are around the same length. But that is my point really. Dougal's sentence was actually reduced by a year because he was a Police officer. "conspicuous service" "now resigned".
Loss of control is still intention. It's not the same as or as serous as pre-meditation but Cahill wanted to cause harm to his victim whatever.
Dougal didn't want to cause any harm to anyone. Driving at 90 mph is not illegal or necessarily morally wrong in my view. Punching someone in the face is morally wrong even you have lost your temper.
Dougal's mistake was to drive at a lawful speed innapropriately which is a matter of judgement. If Cahill was claiming self-defence then I can see his response as possibly being a matter of poor judgment. But there is no suggestion of that.
I'm not sure dangerous driving resulting in a death is any more likley than punching someone in the face is.
If Cahill had lost his temper in his car and made a seriously bad driving decision which resulted in the victim's death then he might well have had a longer sentence than losing his temper outside the car and assualting the victim.
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