A drink driver hit a 15-year-old boy after reversing over him in a ‘reckless and dangerous’ manner - he was left looking like a ‘pile of clothes’ on the ground. John Burton, 40, had reversed at speeds of 20 miles per hour over almost 50 metres before striking the boy in his friend's VW Golf.
The teenager was left with numerous injuries and spent two-and-a-half months in hospital. Fortunately he had made a good recovery.
Burton, of Wythenshawe, pleaded guilty to causing serious injury by dangerous driving, driving with excess alcohol and using a faulty tyre. Today (May 18) he was jailed for 34 months.
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Manchester Crown Court heard that the teenager was on a footpath walking along Newall Road at the junction with Crowland Road when he was hit by Burton, who was reversing in a VW Golf at around 7.50pm on October 12, 2020. The court heard the boy was carried and fell to the ground to the ground, before the car drove over him and then collided with a brick post.
One witness overheard a car driving outside his house, describing the engine to be ‘revving loudly’ and said it sounded like it was being driven quickly. Another witness heard the screeching of tyres and then a ‘very loud bang’, prosecutor David Toal said. And another heard a loud thud before running out of the house to see the boy lay in the road.
“She also saw a male, the defendant, who was saying “I didn’t see him, I was reversing and I didn’t see him, he was just stood in the road with his arms in the air,” Mr Toal said.
A practising GP who was in the area came to assist and saw what she thought was a ‘pile of clothes’ on the pavement at the side of the car however she quickly realised that it was actually a human body, the court heard.
She saw Burton in a state of distress and shouted at him to call an ambulance, but he did not react so she phoned 999 herself. “She then saw the defendant pulling at the body on the floor saying 'get up'. She asked the defendant what had happened and he replied 'I hit him and I swerved',” the prosecutor said.
The police quickly arrived and took over caring for the boy from members of the public who had come over to assist. He was taken to hospital where he was treated for a number of injuries.
He was found to have severe bleeding and swelling to both lungs, blood in the right and left chest cavities and bruising and swelling to the front of his scalp. He also sustained femoral fractures to both thighs and fractures to the pelvis which had to be treated with external fixators, the court heard.
The teenager was in the intensive care unit at the Royal Manchester Children’s Hospital before he was transferred to Alder Hey Children's hospital. He returned to the Royal Manchester Children’s Hospital where he stayed intubated, during which he was treated for both a urinary tract infection and a fungal infection to the groin. He was discharged two-and-a-half months later.
Burton was arrested and smelt of alcohol, so officers conducted a roadside breath test, of which he returned a reading of 78 milligrams of alcohol in 100 millilitres of breath. This was said to be twice the legal limit of 35 milligrams.
A further breath test at the police station recorded a reading of 46 milligrams of alcohol in 100 millilitres of breath.
He later told the police that he was insured on his friend's car and paid £70 per week for its usage. He said that prior to the collision he had drunk a can of cider before going to visit his mum.
When he later left her house, he reversed off the grass verge onto the road. After about 7/8 car lengths he was reversing around a corner and in the rear view mirror he “noticed this person there straightaway out of nowhere and then I just heard the bang”.
After reviewing CCTV of the collision, a forensic collision examiner concluded that the VW Golf was likely to have been reversing over a distance of about 45-50 metres which will have taken 10-13 seconds before its offside wheels travelled onto the footpath, Mr Toal said.
It was travelling at speeds of between 17-20mph when it collided with the boy who was on the footpath, and he would ‘probably have been within the view’ for the entire time he was reversing, it was said. The driving limit was 20 miles per hour.
The boy was then carried for a short distance before falling to the ground, when the VW Golf drove over him as it continued across the junction before colliding with a brick post. The nearside front tyre was also found to be defective in that the tread was excessively worn exposing the inner cords.
Burton was said to have a number of previous convictions including for an offence of drink driving in November last year for which he was disqualified for 15 months. Mitigating, his barrister Michael Johnson said his client is genuinely remorseful and added that the offence is ‘not the worst’ of its type.
Sentencing, Recorder Imran Shafi QC said: “It’s obvious to anyone that you did not set out to cause anybody harm, but it is all but good fortune that I am not sentencing you for death by dangerous driving.
“It’s difficult to articulate the words for the absolute horror and distress caused to that child and his family. He has since tried to get his life back in order.” He added that Burton’s driving was ‘reckless and dangerous behaviour’.
Burton, of Newall Road, was jailed for 34 months, banned from driving for three years and five months and must take an extended retest before he gets behind the wheel again.
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