Drink driver detained over fatal SUV crash

Kyah Barton is sentenced to two years and four months in a young offenders' institution

A teenage drink driver has been detained over a crash which killed one man and left two other people seriously injured.

Kyah Barton, 19, was driving friends home from a bar in the early hours of 14 September 2023 when he lost control of the SUV he was driving on Blackpool Road, Lytham, and crashed into a tree, Lancashire Police said.

Harrison Bretherton, 21, who was in the back seat at the time, died in hospital from injuries suffered in the crash, while the two other passengers - a man in his 20s and an 18-year-old woman - were seriously injured.

Barton, of Ramsgate Road, Lytham, was sentenced at Preston Crown Court to two years and four months' at a young offenders' institution.

He earlier admitted to causing death by careless driving whilst over the prescribed limit of alcohol, causing death while uninsured and causing serious injury by careless driving.

Police said Barton had offered the passengers a lift home earlier that night after seeing them first at the bar he was working at that night, and then at another bar.

He had told them he was "fit to drive", but later gave police a proportional breath sample of 47 micrograms of alcohol, exceeding the prescribed limit of 35, the force added.

Sgt Thomas Malley said: "Barton's careless driving cost Harrison his life, and my thoughts remain with his loved ones."

"Drink driving is never acceptable," he said.

"I hope this goes to show that even if you think you are under the limit, you may well not be, and choosing to get behind the wheel after drinking can cost and so quickly change the lives of so many people."

CORRECTION - 31 March 2025: In the originally published version of this article, the wrong name was referred to in the sixth paragraph. This has been corrected and we sincerely apologise for the error.