A man who killed himself and an innocent father-of-three in a head-on collision was high on cannabis and filming on his phone as he drove at 92mph.
Pete D'Arcy, 57, died after his Volkswagen T-Roc car was hit by a speeding Audi A4 being driven by Robbie Kenneth Diffey, 24, on December 13, 2025.
Diffey was also pronounced dead at the scene, travelling at 92mph under the influence of drugs and alcohol before swerving onto Mr D'Arcy's side of the road before the crash.
He had been stopped by police two months earlier after he was found to be driving under the influence of cannabis. Dorset Police recommended his license be revoked, but it wasn't until a few days after the tragedy.
A coroner ruled at an inquest on May 28, 2026, that Mr D'Arcy was unlawfully killed, reports SomersetLive.
Pete's widow, Louise, has said the fatal crash could have been avoidable, and the resulting impact of his death has meant her two of three children, Lucy, 24, and Jack, 17, now struggle with driving.
Louise, a carer from Salisbury, Wiltshire, said: "The other driver was recording it, and he was going nearly 100mph - he was on Pete's side of the road, and the worst of it is he'd been stopped weeks before for drug driving.
"He didn't have his license taken away, and he was waiting to be banned - the police had sent the paperwork off to the DVLA saying they were waiting on blood results to ban him."
"I knew it wasn't Pete's fault. I've known him for 25 years, we were together 23 years. He'd never had an accident, and he drove across the country for his job daily.
"I know his [Diffey's] family have lost somebody as well, but it was his choice to get behind that wheel - he didn't think of anyone else."
"My 17-year-old, he doesn't want to drive now because of this. My daughter, Lucy, passed her test last year, and she doesn't want to drive either."
Louise and Pete had separated three years before the crash, and Louise said he had dropped off their son at home just minutes before he died.
She told Sell Us Your Story: "He had taken our 17-year-old son out for the day to watch the football.
"He had dropped him back, and on the way back, about 10 minutes away, there was an accident.
"The police came round about half 10 in the evening. You get a knock on the door and see two policemen, but it didn't even enter my head that I'd be in that situation.
"We were told what had happened, but they couldn't give us a lot of detail at the time, only that both drivers had died at the scene.
"It's been a rollercoaster with so many questions. We've seen pictures of the car - the impact was so bad that the engine came out of the car and the bonnet flew off.
"The other guy was coming from the Wimborne side, and Pete didn't stand a chance basically - there have been a number of accidents there."
The inquest on May 28 heard that police had found an open bottle of Peroni between Diffey's legs after the crash.
Police also found a Snapchat video which showed Mr D'Arcy flashing his lights a second before impact.
Coroner Rachael Griffin concluded that Mr D'Arcy's death was "unlawful" and described Diffey's driving as "audacious and abhorrent".
Reacting to the inquest, Louise said the crash could have been "prevented".
She added: "It was really upsetting - it could have been prevented if the police had more power to take licenses off him when he got stopped.
"He was stopped on October 25, and they didn't get the blood test result until December 24, and the crash was on the 13th.
"They need more powers and to be able to speed the process up. It's just awful."
The Dorset Coroners' Office said: "At approximately 18.04 hours on December 13, 2025, Robbie Kenneth Diffey was driving his motor vehicle an Audi A4 registration OE60 PVP along the northbound carriageway of the B3078 Cranborne Road, Knowlton, Dorset, whilst under the influence of alcohol and cannabis and whilst using his mobile phone in his hand, at a speed of at least 92mph when he crossed onto the southbound carriageway and collided in an offset head on position with an oncoming motor vehicle.
"At approximately 18.04 hours on December 13, 2025, Peter John D'Arcy was driving his motor vehicle a Volkswagen T-Roc registration VO70 CDF along the southbound carriageway of the B3078 Cranborne Road, Knowlton, Dorset, when an oncoming vehicle being driven in the northbound carriageway crossed onto the southbound carriageway and collided with Pete's vehicle in an offset head on position.
"At the point of the collision the driver of the other vehicle was travelling at a speed of at least 92mph, using his mobile phone in his hand to video his driving, and driving whilst under the influence of alcohol and cannabis."
