JAILED: Drink-driver behind horror crash which left passengers seriously injured

The Ford Puma, with 28-year-old father of two Thomas Ellis at the wheel, veered across the road into a kerb which threw the vehicle into a spin, a judge heard.

The car hit another kerb, flipping it round before careering into a bollard at the end of a pedestrian alleyway, Wolverhampton Crown Court was told.

It continued to revolve and cannoned into two trees, coming to rest wrapped round the second of these in Pleck Road, Walsall, continued Mr Howard Searle, prosecuting who said: “It was crushed, bent almost into a ‘V’ shape.”

The vehicle was seen speeding moments before the crash which left passengers Richard Thacker, 23, and 41-year-old Philip Albutt badly hurt. Ellis was also seriously injured.

The three had met up for drinks at the Hussey Arms in Chester Road, Brownhills, up to four hours earlier, the court heard. Ellis arrived by car about an hour after his friend Mr Albutt who was pals with Mr Thacker.

The latter sat in the front - and subsequently took the main impact - while Mr Albutt travelled in the back as Ellis headed for Walsall after the pub closed.

Crash investigators estimated the car was averaging 72 mph in a 30 limit as it approached a left hand bend which they said could not be negotiated with any degree of control at over 50mph, said Mr Searle.

Mr Thacker suffered a broken pelvis, fractured ribs, a collapsed lung and severe injuries to the left arm and leg.

He had four operations before being transferred to a rehabilitation unit and later confessed: ‘It was the worst time ever. I had to learn to walk again.’ He only returned to work in July, a year nine and months after the accident. Mr Albutt broke and bruised ribs and had a minor bleed in the chest which kept him in hospital for a week but has made a good recovery and forgiven Ellis who was almost twice the drink-drive limit, giving a reading of 158 milligrams of alcohol in 100 millilitres of blood. The legal limit is 80.

All of those in the car remembered little of what happened but Mr Gurdeep Garcha, defending, said the shame and regret felt by the driver was ‘profound.’

Ellis, from Watling Street, Brownhills, admitted two cases of causing serious injury by dangerous driving on October 31, 2015 and was sent to prison by Judge Peter Barrie, who banned him from driving for three years nine months.