Crime gang boss who killed three friends in a horror 127mph motorway smash after falling asleep at the wheel of an Audi Q7 is jailed for nine years

a crime gang boss killed three friends in horror highway crash at 120mph.

Lee Docherty, 38, fell asleep at the wheel of the rented Audi Q7 on the M8 near Bishopton in Renfrewshire in the early hours of September 19, 2021.

Seven of his employees were in the powerful 4×4 at the time.

Mark Downie, 31, David Paton and Manveer Benning, both 27, died after the high-speed crash. The four others were seriously injured.

Docherty appeared in the High Court yesterday Glasgow where he pleaded guilty to causing death by dangerous driving.

There he was jailed for eight years in April this year for heading a drugs gang that operated from a heavily barricaded apartment block in Greenock, Inverclyde, known as ‘the shop’.

Lee Docherty, 38, (pictured) fell asleep at the wheel of rented Audi Q7 on the M8

Lord Clark yesterday sentenced him to an additional nine years for the latest crime.

Prosecutor Greg Farrell told how Docherty and the others had previously been at a club in the center of Glasgow.

The eight then all went in the Audi – built for just seven people – initially to a nearby flat before leaving and eventually traveling on the M8.

Mr Farrell said Docherty had a ‘recorded speed of up to 125mph’, described as ‘excessively exaggerated’.

The court heard the Audi eventually veered into the hard shoulder near Junction 31 of the M8 and drove onto the curb.

The vehicle soon ended up on an embankment.

Mr Farrell said: ‘The Audi continued on its path of travel with no apparent input in the form of braking or steering by the driver.’

The 4×4 tumbled down the embankment, knocking down a fence and two trees, before coming to rest on its roof.

David Paton and Manveer Benning died in the M8 crash

Seven of the eight men in the overloaded Audi were not wearing seat belts.

The three dead were all found outside the vehicle.

Mr Farrell said: ‘The crash investigator indicated that Docherty caused the Audi to drift to the side of the highway in a manner that indicated he was falling asleep.’

The other passengers – Brendan Gillan, Dylan McFadyen, Michael Munro and Brendan Balloch – all required hospital treatment after the impact.

The court heard Docherty, of Gourock, Inverclyde, was described as ‘in shock’.

His QC Thomas Ross said yesterday: ‘I must acknowledge the emotional pain suffered by the surviving relatives.

‘Knowing that he caused all this would weigh heavily on him, even if they were strangers.

“But these were all good friends. Whatever the punishment, this is something he will have to live with.

‘It must also be said that Mark Downie’s mother and David Paton’s partner – in an extraordinary gesture of compassion – bears him no ill will.

“They believe this would have been the last thing in the world he would have wanted to happen.

“Given the circumstances, they are willing to forgive him.”

The court heard – in addition to the drugs conviction – Docherty was previously jailed for attempted murder in 2000.

Lord Clark said the final prison sentence would have been 12 years without the guilty plea.

It only begins at the end of the eight years Docherty was given in April.

The judge said: ‘There is no sentence that can soften the impact on the family members of the deceased and the others involved.’

Docherty was also banned from driving for a total of fourteen and a half years.