Cannabis user “may never walk again” after causing horrific pile up with his son in the car

A cannabis user dozed off at the wheel of a rental van on the M62 near Goole causing a horrific pile up – from which he may never walk again.

Brett Perry-Hunt, 26, was over taking in the rain, cutting in and hit the central reservation before veering off the M62 and ploughing to the back of a highway maintenance lorry with an officer inside.

The officer had to be removed on a stretcher. Brett Perry-Hunt went in to a coma for three weeks and was left with no memory of the crash.

Mr Perry-Hunt’s three-year-old son Connor suffered a broken arm and was detained in hospital for three days.

Perry-Hunt sat weeping in his wheelchair at Hull Crown Court on Wednesday as a judge told him he had brought all the injuries on himself and could have killed his own son.

Perry-Hunt of Sturminster Newton, near Dorset, appeared for sentence after pleading guilty to causing serious injury while driving dangerously westbound near Junction 36 at Airmyn near Goole on November 13, 2015.

The court heard Perry-Hunt had cannabis in his system from the night before and had hired a van to drive 300 miles to take a friend to a new home in Hull. He had set off from Dorset for a five hour drive before unloading the van and was on his way back with his son in a child seat when he began to doze at the wheel.

Crown barrister Hannah Walker said: “He was driving dangerously prior to the accident. He was driving too fast in wet conditions, cutting in front of vehicles and over taking when he should not have done.

“His van then ploughed in to the back of the highway lorry parked on the hard shoulder 200-yards from the exit with its lights flashing. Aaron Taylor had got out of the van, but Aiden Taylor was in the driver’s seat. Mr Aiden Taylor described a massive bang and was knocked to the floor. He was most concerned about his friend. He was taken out of the van on a stretcher board.”

She said the van folded up in the impact. There were fears for Connor Perry-Hunt who was taken to hospital for a scan. He had a broken arm.

Defence barrister Roderick Blain said: “The defendant was in a coma for about three-weeks after the crash. When he recovered consciousness the local police spoke to him. From that time he has never disputed he was responsible for the accident- and a horrific one it was.

Mr Blain said he accepted Mr Perry-Hunt had taken cannabis night before. He was tired, he should have stopped, and he was driving badly and things went from bad to worse.

Mr Blain said telephone records showed he was on the phone in Hull and after he was at the hospital – but not in-between.

“He was in a coma for three weeks in Hull and then spent three weeks in a hospital in Poole,2 said Mr Blain. “It has wrecked his life. It is unclear if the left leg will have to be amputated as the recovery is very slow.”

Perry-Hunt wept as Judge Jeremy Richardson, QC, told him: “No amount of punishment I can inflict is in comparison to the injuries you have inflicted on yourself. They are life changing to put it mildly.

“Your conduct was shocking in every dimension. The driving was appalling and the person most seriously injured apart from yourself was your son. You could have killed him.

“You are sitting in court in a wheelchair with all-manner of orthopaedic devices. There is a real risk your leg will have to be amputated. There is a real risk you will never walk again.

“If there was ever a case that demonstrates what happens when decent people do something very stupid and drive dangerously, this is it. Your life is shattered and you are the author of your own misfortune.”

He gave Perry-Hunt a two-year suspended prison sentence and banned him from driving for five years.