Drunk driver on cocaine jailed after serious crash

The crash happened as Pickett drove the wrong way down a dual carriageway

A man has been jailed for 34 months and banned from driving for 11-and-a-half years after admitting causing serious injury by dangerous driving.

Paul Pickett, 51, of Ripley Road, Broughton, Milton Keynes, had ignored a Keep Left sign and was travelling the wrong way on the H8 Standing Way dual carriageway towards Woughton-on-the-Green when he hit a Volvo head-on in May 2023.

The Mercedes driver also pleaded guilty to dangerous driving.

The other driver, who was 37 at the time, requires permanent medical care having sustained multiple injuries, including life-changing brain injuries.

Pickett was seriously hurt and was taken to Milton Keynes University Hospital, where his blood alcohol level was found to be two-and-a-half times over the legal limit.

Thames Valley Police said cocaine and benzoylecgonine was also found in his system.

In court, Pickett admitted driving while over the alcohol limit and failing to stop after a road accident.

He pleaded guilty to two further counts of driving a motor vehicle with a proportion of a specified controlled drug above the specified limit.

Police said Pickett had cocaine and benzoylecgonine in his system at the time of the crash

PC Chris Ruvolo-Jones, of the force's roads policing unit, said: “The victim in this case received terrible, life-threatening and life-changing injuries and endured a lengthy spell in hospital as a result of Pickett’s decision to drive after consuming alcohol and cocaine.

“The victim will unlikely make a full recovery having lost the ability to move freely, communicate or eat and drink without assistance.

"Pickett will now serve a prison sentence as a result of those decisions."