Drink driver’s five sickening words as he fails breath test after baby and woman killed
This is the moment killer driver Darryl Anderson failed a breath test after ploughing into a car at 140mph[1] killing a baby boy and his aunt.
The drink driver smashed into a Peugeot carrying eight-month-old Zackary Blades[2] and 30-year-old Karlene Warner on the A1 in County Durham in the early hours of May 31 this year. Zackary’s’s mum, Sharlona Warner, was driving at the time and was also injured.
A court heard on Tuesday how 38-year-old Anderson was three times over the legal limit when he caused the catastrophic smash, and was jailed for more than 17 years[3] after pleading guilty to two counts of death by dangerous driving. Durham Police have since released chilling footage of the moment officers breathalysed Anderson, from Thorpe Hesley, South Yorkshire, minutes after the crash.
Bodycam footage shows an officer asking if Anderson has any injuries, before he replies "only minor", adding: "I've just got back off holiday." Asked if he'd had any alcohol, Anderson tells the police: "I had a little bit to drink on the plane[4]."
Drunk driver who killed baby and his aunt in 140mph smash jailed for 17 years[5]
Darryl Anderson being given a roadside breathalyser test for alcohol, which he failed (
PA)
He then is seen breathing into the tube in the back of a police van, before being told he had 95mg per 100ml of breath - the legal limit being 35 - and being arrested for drink driving[6]. He then tells an officer: "I drove into the back of another car. Now sometimes mistakes happen, but I'm not a bad person."
Selfish Anderson sank a “significant” amount of booze on a flight landing at Newcastle before setting off in his Audi Q5 down the motorway earlier that morning, playing what the judge called “Russian roulette with every man, woman and child on that journey”. Minutes before the crash, he had been sending WhatsApp[7] messages, before taking a “chilling” final photo of his speedometer which warns of an “impending obstacle” – Ms Warner’s car.
Around 30 Warner family members packed into the public gallery at Durham Crown Court[8] on Tuesday as Anderson was sentenced, as the court heard a harrowing account from Sharlona who told how she held her baby son at the side of the motorway after he was found by a lorry driver. The grief-stricken mum said: “I heard a painful scream from the lorry driver[9] crying: 'Oh no, he’s here – your baby’s here.' I jumped over to find my baby lying on the edge of the grass of the motorway.
Baby Zackary, who was flung from the car and killed by drink driver Anderson (
Durham Police)
Mum Karlene Warner, 30, was also killed in the smash (
Durham Police)
“I knew instantly. I had to pick my dead baby up from the side of the road. I hugged him so tight, a hug I will never forget[10]. No words will surmount the irreparable hole that has been left in my heart and in my life. Zackary was my rainbow baby – he was the light at the end of a tunnel of a very dark time for me and brought joy, happiness, and laughter into my life.
“My baby’s[11] future, my future, our life together, has been stolen from me. I won’t ever see him look up and smile at me again. I won’t have that luxury. Instead, every second of every day I relive that night over and over again in my head, thinking what did my innocent little boy do to deserve this? And for my sister, Karlene, I just have no words. I am so sorry this happened to you. It’s hard to process something that doesn’t seem real – it just feels like I am living a nightmare.
Sharlona Warner (in blue), pictured outside court with Detective Constable Natalie Horner, said she was 'living a nightmare' after losing her baby son and sister in the crash (
Andy Commins / Daily Mirror)
“I will feel the ripples of this pain[12] for the rest of my life. I don’t know if I will be able to get through this – I am scarred, I am traumatised, I am petrified to live my life. The impact of these events will amplify the hard times and taint any good moment I may possibly have, because within my heart lives Zackary and Karlene, and I will never live a normal life again without them.”
Also addressing Anderson was Karlene’s husband who ordered the defendant to look at him as he bravely read his statement to the court. He told how the crash had ruined his life, robbing his little girl of her mother. Karlene’s dad meanwhile described him as a “wild killing machine” in his rampage down the southbound carriageway[13].
Anderson was sentenced to 17 years and three months. He was also banned from driving[14] for 21 and a half years.
References
- ^ ploughing into a car at 140mph (www.mirror.co.uk)
- ^ carrying eight-month-old Zackary Blades (www.mirror.co.uk)
- ^ jailed for more than 17 years (www.mirror.co.uk)
- ^ had a little bit to drink on the plane (www.mirror.co.uk)
- ^ Drunk driver who killed baby and his aunt in 140mph smash jailed for 17 years (www.mirror.co.uk)
- ^ drink driving (www.mirror.co.uk)
- ^ WhatsApp (www.mirror.co.uk)
- ^ Crown Court (www.mirror.co.uk)
- ^ painful scream from the lorry driver (www.mirror.co.uk)
- ^ a hug I will never forget (www.mirror.co.uk)
- ^ baby’s (www.mirror.co.uk)
- ^ feel the ripples of this pain (www.mirror.co.uk)
- ^ rampage down the southbound carriageway (www.mirror.co.uk)
- ^ banned from driving (www.mirror.co.uk)