A drink driver has been jailed for causing devastating, life-changing injuries to a young farmer in a horror crash near Malton.
Benjamin Daniels, 32, was overtaking a lorry on a bend when his Jaguar XF smashed head-on into an oncoming car driven by the named victim whose leg was so badly shattered that it “looked like a piece of spaghetti”, York Crown Court heard.
The victim, a 6ft 10in rugby player whose girlfriend was in the front passenger seat, was trapped in his Ford Focus after it spun off the road and ended up in a hedge.
His leg was broken in multiple places.
Prosecutor Kelly Clarke said the crash occurred on a narrow, winding stretch of the A64 at the bottom of Golden Hill, near Huttons Ambo, at about 11.45pm on 19 January.
“(Daniels) made a dangerous manoeuvre by overtaking a lorry driven on a left-hand bend,” added Ms Clarke.
“Coming in the opposite direction was (the named victim) and his partner. He had just been to collect her after (she had) an evening out.
“(The victim) remembers taking a right-hand bend and then immediately seeing headlights coming towards him. There was no time to make any kind of evasive manoeuvre.”
The victim’s car “spun in the road” and ended up in the side of a hedge. His partner got out of the wrecked car, but he was trapped inside.
“He looked at his leg bone and…described it as looking like a piece of spaghetti,” said Ms Clarke.
The victim, who lives in Pickering and works in Malton, suffered multiple fractures to his leg, including his shin, thigh bone and knee, and broke his hip. He also suffered “numerous cuts and lacerations”.
Trapped in the wreckage
Daniels was also trapped in the wreckage of his Jaguar as a named female witness went to his aid.
Daniels, who was also seriously injured, told the woman: “What have I done? I’m fxxxed. I’ve been drinking. It’s all my fault. I’ll have to pay for this.”
When police, fire and ambulance crews arrived at the scene, Daniels told a traffic officer: “I’ve killed them. I’ve killed the people in that car.”
The traffic officer could smell “intoxicating liquor” inside the Jaguar and Daniels was slurring his speech and his eyes were “red, glazed”.
The officer said it was clear that Daniels was drunk.
A roadside breath test revealed that he was well over twice the legal alcohol limit.
He was taken to hospital by ambulance and the victim was airlifted to Hull Royal Infirmary for emergency treatment after they were both cut out of their vehicles by firefighters.
Daniels, of Barton-le-Willows, was charged with causing serious injury by dangerous driving and drink-driving. He admitted both offences and appeared for sentence yesterday (Tuesday).
In a statement read out by the prosecution, the victim, a young cattle farmer, said he had succumbed to depression since the horror crash and hadn’t been able to walk since.
“I haven’t been able to walk for four months,” he added. “After the collision, I first thought my leg had fallen off.”
Due to the seriousness of his injuries and a lack of mobility in his leg, he hadn’t been able to work since the accident which had “crippled” him financially. He had to spend his £3,000 savings on “what I’ve lost in earnings”.
Before the collision, the victim was a keen rugby player, basketballer, cricketer and gym-goer, but doctors have told him he won’t be able to play rugby ever again because his injuries are so serious.
He said that before the crash “I was on the best rugby form I had ever been in” and, at the time of the accident, he was due to make his debut for his club’s first team.
“Now I’ll never play again – it’s all been taken away from me,” he added.
Previous convictions
He now needed help with basic tasks such as getting dressed and his financial and insurance woes meant he couldn’t afford a new car.
Ms Clarke said that Daniels was “highly impaired by the consumption of drink” as he drove along the single carriageway stretch of the A64 where double white lines prohibited overtaking.
A long stretch of the road was closed for 14 hours after the crash from just outside York to the A169 Malton junction.
Ms Clarke said that Daniels had a previous conviction for aggravated vehicle-taking, drink-driving and having no insurance.
His solicitor advocate Kevin Blount said that on the night of the crash, Daniels had been out drinking on his own. He then made the “extremely foolish decision to drive himself home”.
He said that “drink was becoming something of an issue for (Daniels)” at the time, stemming in part from the death of his father two years ago. He had lost his job due to his injuries and was now undergoing therapy.
Judge Sean Morris told Daniels that his previous conviction for drink-driving should have been a “shot across your bows”.
“But it didn’t have any effect, because here you are again,” added Mr Morris.
“People are expected to learn from their mistakes, especially people with intelligence like you. You are, by sheer luck, not in that dock charged with causing death by dangerous driving.
“You went drinking in your car and (then) get in the car and drive like an idiot. (The victim) has had awful injuries. The bone was poking through his leg.
“There are multiple fractures and permanent scarring to the face and leg. He’s lost his savings, can’t get a car, can’t play rugby and his future in farming (has been) really affected, and all thanks to you.”
Daniels received a two-year jail sentence and three-year driving ban.