The Press and Journal (Inverness, Highlands, and Islands)
Drink-driver’ s 120mph crash triggered fireball and left teen paralysed
Adrink and drugs fuelled driver ignored “petrified” pleas to slow down moments before a devastating fireball crash that left a teenager paralysed.
David Will was “showing off” to his two passengers when he hit speeds of 120mph on the A93 near Peterculter while under the influence of alcohol, cannabis and cocaine.
His high-powered Audi overturned and burst into flames after he lost control and barrelled into a drystone wall.
Front-seat passenger Owen Emslie – who was 18 and had never met Will before – was pulled from the burning wreckage but will never walk again.
He was at Aberdeen Sheriff Court yesterday to hear Sheriff Morag McLaughlin tell Will a prison sentence is “inevitable”.
Will met Mr Emslie and Daniel Inglis, 19, outside a
Peterculter pub just after closing time on July 31 2021. After they showed an interest in the performance of his car, he offered to take them for a drive.
Witnesses in the Richmond Arms had seen Will drink “a few pints of beer and some rose wine” and appeared to be “really drunk”.
He drove them westwards on the dark and wet road and over the Rob Roy Bridge where his passengers noticed he was travelling at speeds topping 120mph.
Mr Emslie told police: “He appeared to be shouting and screaming like he was hyping himself up to go quicker.
“He was going that quickly that he was having to cut on to the other side of the road to go around the bends. I realised he might be on alcohol or drugs at this point.
“I said to Daniel he should put his seatbelt on and he did. I told the driver to slow down and stop the car, I want out. He didn’t answer me.
“I kept repeating this and he just didn’t answer me.”
Mr Emslie added: “At this point his driving was nuts. “I was petrified.”
As Will approached a right-hand bend the nearside tyres of the car went into the grass verge.
The Audi ploughed into a drystone wall for around 15 metres, colliding with trees, before coming to rest on its roof.
Fiscal depute Dylan Middleton said: “Witnesses travelling along the road came across the vehicle a short time later and contacted the emergency services.
“As they approached, they saw that the car had caught fire and the fire was quickly spreading throughout the vehicle.”
Will and Mr Inglis were free of the car but Mr Emslie was trapped.
The passers-by freed him from his seatbelt and dragged him clear moments before it was “consumed by fire”.
All three were treated at the scene and taken to Aberdeen Royal Infirmary.
Tests showed Will was twice the alcohol limit and also over the limit for cannabis and cocaine.
He told officers: “I was the driver. I’ve been drinking and taking other things, cocaine and cannabis.”
Will later withdrew the admission and denied taking any alcohol or drugs.
He admitted he was “showing off ” and had been driving too fast.
Will tried to shift the blame on to his two passengers, claiming they “knew what they were getting themselves into”.
The fiscal added: “He also claimed that they were encouraging him to go faster as opposed to him encouraging himself.”
Back-seat passenger Mr Inglis was uninjured but Mr Emslie was paralysed from the waist down. Despite surgery to stabilise his broken spine, his condition is not expected to improve and he is now a full-time wheelchair user and requires help from nurses and carers daily.
Doctors say he will require “lifelong medical follow-up, investigation and monitoring”.
Will admitted causing serious injury by dangerous driving.
Defence agent Gregor Kelly said: “He wishes to make an unreserved apology to his victim for the life-changing injuries.”
Mr Kelly added: “He understands there will be only one possible outcome here.”
Sheriff Morag McLaughlin agreed jail would be inevitable but granted Will, of Bellfield, Little Brechin, bail to “get his affairs in order” while background reports are prepared.
He will be sentenced next month.