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| Leicester 'cannabis mum' guilty of killing daughter in crash | Leicester 'cannabis mum' guilty of killing daughter in crash |
| (35 minutes later) | |
| A mother has been found guilty of killing her daughter and her son's girlfriend in a car crash after smoking cannabis. | A mother has been found guilty of killing her daughter and her son's girlfriend in a car crash after smoking cannabis. |
| Anastasia James, 37, smoked the drug before the crash on the M1 in Leicestershire in January 2014, Leicester Crown Court heard. | Anastasia James, 37, smoked the drug before the crash on the M1 in Leicestershire in January 2014, Leicester Crown Court heard. |
| Her daughter, Destiny James-Keeling, 14, and Megan Marchant, 18, died when James's car came off the motorway at 70mph and struck a tree. | Her daughter, Destiny James-Keeling, 14, and Megan Marchant, 18, died when James's car came off the motorway at 70mph and struck a tree. |
| James had denied all charges. | James had denied all charges. |
| The mother, of Thornton Close, Braunstone, Leicester, was convicted of two counts of causing death by careless driving when unfit through drugs. | The mother, of Thornton Close, Braunstone, Leicester, was convicted of two counts of causing death by careless driving when unfit through drugs. |
| The court heard she had been at a child's birthday party in Islington, north London, before she took the "unforgivable" decision to smoke cannabis - which she did either before she set off or during the journey back to Leicester. | |
| Prosecutor Michael Evans QC said James's Vauxhall Astra convertible veered into the central reservation near Shawell, then travelled across three lanes of the M1 before plunging down a verge, becoming airborne and hitting a tree at 50mph. | |
| Forensic scientist David Berry told the jury that traces of cannabis found in James's blood would have probably "impaired" the motorist. He said it was "impossible" she had smoked the drug passively. | |
| James said she had switched from using cannabis to a legal high because of her job as a private investigator. | |
| 'Wobbly sensation' | |
| James - who had stitches for a head wound after the crash - denied smoking anything on the day of the collision and blamed her car. | |
| "I just remember going straight and then this feeling of pulling," she told jurors. | |
| "That's the point where I was really holding on tight to the wheel - it was just like a wobbly sensation. I couldn't actually stop it from pulling to the right." | |
| The court heard James, who was convicted of possessing cannabis in 2000, had previously been involved in drug education and has a degree in youth and community development. |