'Blackout' drunk driver injured New Year reveller
Northumbria PoliceA "blackout" drunk driver who crashed into a reveller in the early hours of New Year's Day 2025, leaving the man with serious head injuries, has been jailed for two and a half years.
Liam James, 24, mounted the pavement in his Vauxhall Corsa in Berwick and sent his victim crashing into a wall before driving off, Newcastle Crown Court heard.
The man was given a 5% chance of survival and had to have parts of his skull removed, while the best years of his life were "totally wasted", the court heard.
James, who later sent a text message about his drinking and driving with a thumbs up emoji, admitted causing serious injury by dangerous driving.
The victim was walking with friends along Marygate when he was struck by James at about 00:30 GMT on 1 January 2025, prosecutor Kevin Wardlaw said.
The man was thrown into the wall of a shop and his friends gave first aid as James drove off, the court heard.
'Left for dead'
The following morning, a friend of James posted about the crash on social media asking if anyone knew anything about it, the court heard.
James messaged him to ask if it had been a "hit and run", telling his friend he had driven home but could not remember what happened as he was "blackout", meaning "extremely drunk", Wardlaw said.
He also messaged a relative to say he had "spewed all over" his bed after being "blackout drunk" while driving his car home, ending the text with a thumbs up emoji, the court heard.
James later handed himself into police, with officers discovering a large crack on his windscreen.
In a statement read to the court, the victim said he had been "left in the road for dead".
He needed multiple surgeries to have pieces of his skull removed to ease pressure on his brain, with a metal plate eventually fitted to protect his head, the court heard.
Until the plate was added, he had to wear a protective hat as a simple fall could have killed him, the man said.
He had also been left partially deaf in both ears and needed hearing aids.
"My life has been awful, I have no normal life," the man, who requires constant care, said, adding he had "lost some of the best years" of his life which had been "totally wasted".
In a letter written to the court, James said he was "appalled and ashamed" by his actions and could "not begin to tell" of the "guilt and remorse" he felt over his "reckless lapse of judgement".
Judge Robert Adams said James made a "deliberate, albeit drunken, decision" to drive, resulting in "life-changing catastrophic" injuries for the victim.
James was also banned from driving for four years and three months and will have to pass the extended test.
