Mum’s plea to drink drivers

THE mother of a teenager who was killed in a double fatal car smash has urged other young men not to drink and drive. Justine Morris said: "Think of your mum." She was speaking at an inquest into the death of her 19-year-old son Sammy Phillips who was killed when a car driven by his friend while more than three times over the drink-drive limit crashed, killing them both.

Sammy Phillips, a tree surgeon, from Henley, was in the passenger seat of the car driven by Lewis Moghul, 22, from Whitchurch Hill, on the night of February 3. Oxford Coroner's Court heard on Tuesday that the pair had died instantly when Mr Moghul's red BMW 2 series coupe left the road and struck two trees. The car was estimated to have been travelling at between 70mph and 100mph on the A4130 between Bix and Nettlebed.

The two men, who were in seatbelts, had been drinking together in Henley before the crash. A biochemist at the John Radcliffe Hospital determined that Mr Moghul's blood alcohol level had been 247mg per 100 millilitres of blood. The legal drink-drive limit in England is 80mg.

Ms Morris told the hearing that earlier that evening Sammy had asked her to save him some dinner, promising "I'll be home by 10." "But unexpectedly he ran into friends he hadn't seen for a while," she said. "A photo taken at 9.52pm that evening and posted on social media shows three mates, smiling and sharing a drink. "Less than an hour later two of them were dead -- 22-year-old Lewis, who was driving, and Sammy, hispassenger.

"Bad choices were made that night. This was not an unfortunate accident. It was a tragedy that should never have happened.

"When Lewis and Sammy got into that BMW, they took a gamble with their lives and they lost. "I am sure Sammy's friend didn't set out to kill them both that evening but that's the harsh reality of what happened." Senior coroner Darren Salter read out summaries of statements made by four witnesses to the accident.

He said he was leaving out details of their accounts to present the information in a "sensitive and proportionate way". One driver, who was overtaken by the BMW travelling along the dual carriageway from Henley to Bix, said it was travelling at 100mph. Another witness, who was getting out of his car at Bix when the incident happened, described the vehicle's speed as "insane".

Angela Ridgeway said she was travelling in the opposite direction towards Henley when she saw Mr Moghul's car on her side of the road and he swerved at the last second, narrowly avoiding her vehicle. She did not realise it had gone on to crash until she saw police boards appealing for information. South Central Ambulance Service received a call at 10.45pm to say that two people were trapped in a car.

Paramedics called to the scene confirmed that both men were dead. Pc Reuben Hill, a forensic collision investigator for Thames Valley Police, told the coroner that he had been on patrol that night and arrived at the scene just after midnight. He said: "The carriageway is relatively wide through Bix and as you approach the collision scene the road does narrow as well as negotiate a slight left bend."

It was not possible to establish the exact speed of the vehicle through tyre marks or through electronic data from the car, partly because it became airborne when it hit the kerb and left the road. However, the estimates from witnesses of between 70mph and 100mph were consistent with the damage to the vehicle. There was no dashcam footage.

Pc Hill described the night of the accident as dry, overcast and cold, adding: "Mud and debris on the road was as a result of the incident, it had not been there beforehand." A vehicle examination found no defects that had caused or contributed to the crash. Pc Hill said that in the days after the crash he found a deer carcass 4m away from where the car left the road.

However, there was no indication on the vehicle that it had collided with a deer and he could not tell how long the deer had been there. He was unable to say whether the driver had swerved to avoid an animal. Pc Hill said that the alcohol level in Mr Moghul's blood was such that it could have resulted in blurred vision, a reduction in hand, eye and foot co-ordination, slower reaction times and slower reflexes.

"This level of intoxication will have had a negative impact on many of the skills needed to drive," said Pc Hill. "Lewis's decision to drive his car at high speeds when intoxicated and his ability to drive was impaired [which meant] that a collision was likely." Ms Morris said: "Boys like Sammy die on our roads every single day of the year and the ingredients are too often the same -- young men, fast cars and alcohol. "Road crashes remain the leading cause of death among young people in the UK and 17- to 24-year-olds are, sadly, the biggest losers.

"At 19, Sammy was on the cusp of great things. He'd recently found his calling as a tree surgeon and had landed his first proper job. After struggling academically, he now had every reason to feel good about himself.

"He had a wide circle of friends and he had plans. It was wonderful to hear him talk about his hopes and dreams for the future. "Sammy knew how proud we were of him and how far he'd come in the past couple of years.

"As a family, we can only hope that the death of both boys will serve as a reminder to all their young friends, to all those who knew them: you are not invincible. "While we would support a zero-tolerance drink-drive limit so that it becomes socially unacceptable to have even one drink when driving, we recognise that no change in the law can eradicate the exuberance of youth. We were all young once.

So to all young men, I would simply say this: Think of your mum. Before you put your foot down, before you have a drink and think it's okay to get behind the wheel, think of your mum standing where I am now and imagine how utterly heartbroken she'd be." Mr Salter recorded that both deaths were the result of a road traffic collision.

He said: "Lewis and Sammy died instantly and it appears from the injuries sustained that there were no lifesaving opportunities. If ever there was a reminder of the dangers of driving under the influence of alcohol, very sadly this case is just it." Ms Morris, a BBCproducer, was accompanied by Sammy's sister, Zuzu Phillips, 19, a second year student at Nottingham Trent University.

His brother, Jamie Morris, 25, a wood craftsman who lives in Wales, joined by video link.

Some of Mr Moghul's friends attended but his family was not present.