Crash driver left his injured friend locked inside wreck
AMAN left his friend in a locked car with a fractured neck after crashing it into a tree at 4am, a court has heard.
Callum Michael McFarlane, 26, hit the tree, writing off the car, after visiting a pub and bar in Macclesfield and Wilmslow, Stockport Magistrates’ Court was told.
McFarlane, of Belgrave Road, Macclesfield, left his friend Gus Wilcox, with a fractured neck, damage to his left knee and suffering from memory loss and tinnitus after the smash on Parvey Lane, Sutton, on October 24 last year.
Prosecutor Tina Cunnane told the court that McFarlane’s Audi S3 was found by police close to a damaged tree, across the pavement and protruding on to the road.
She said: “The only occupant of the car was Gus Wilcox, who was in the passenger seat and seemed unconscious and unresponsive.
“He was roused slightly by police officers banging on the window but they found the car was locked and had to smash a window to release him.
“Mr Wilcox seemed disorientated and unaware of his surroundings and could not help with who was driving the car.”
The court heard that multiple panels of the car were badly damaged when officers arrived.
Miss Cunnane said that officers researched the registered keeper of the car and found it to be McFarlane, who was then visited at his home address later that day.
In police interview, McFarlane presented a prepared statement saying that he was driving the Audi at the time of the incident and had been dropping friends off in the Sutton area and had no recollection of the smash.
He stated that he must have exited the car and in a state of confusion and ‘staggered away’ to his home address.
The court heard that the previous day McFarlane had travelled in the Audi to have lunch at Botanist bar in Wilmslow before driving to the Millstone pub in Macclesfield to watch a football game on television.
CCTV from the pub showed the group arrive at 5.33pm and leave at 10.54pm.
McFarlane pleaded guilty to careless driving, leaving the scene of an accident and failing to report an accident.
Jeremy Spencer, defending, said that his client maintained that he had consumed one pint of lager during his lunch and had not drank any more alcohol later in the day.
He said: “He feels guilty about leaving his friend inside the car and he does not remember locking the vehicle.”
Mr Spencer told the court that his client had a job as a labourer and was currently contracting at Tytherington Golf Club.
Magistrates adjourned the case for probation reports until February 20.
The chair of the bench told McFarlane he had left Mr Wilcox with ‘substantial injuries’ and that all sentencing options remained open including immediate imprisonment.