A drink driver who killed a taxi driver and seriously injured a passenger in Cannock has been jailed for almost ten years.

After drinking at a sports venue in January 2024, Joshua Stack, 25, of Stafford, got in his Vauxhall Corsa despite being over the limit.

Stack was travelling along the B5012 from the direction of Penkridge towards Cannock when he went over a bridge, veered into the oncoming lane and collided with a Toyota Avensis taxi on the other side.

50-year-old Sajid Ali, from Walsall, who was driving the taxi, died as a result of his injuries.

A man in his 20s, who was the passenger in the taxi, was seriously injured and taken to hospital.

He was later discharged and continues to recover.

Stack, who was also seriously injured, was taken to hospital where a sample of his blood proved he was over the drink drive limit.

He pleaded guilty days before a trial was due to start for causing death by dangerous driving and causing serious injury by dangerous driving.

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On Friday (30 October), he was sentenced at Stafford Crown Court to nine-years-and-six-months in prison.

As part of his sentencing, he was disqualified from driving for seven-years-and-nine-months and ordered to take an extended re-test.

DC Jim Addison, from the Serious Collision Investigation Unit, said: "Drink driving can devastate lives in an instant, as we have seen again in this tragic collision.

"Stack's actions that day has taken away someone from their family forever and caused significant emotional and physical distress to another.

"I'm pleased that we have been able to build all of the evidence needed to make sure he is brought to justice."