Selfish Kettering drink-driver left friend needing life-saving surgery after horror crash

A drink-driver careered into a tree and changed the life of his friend forever after a horror crash.

Carl Mercieri, of Station Road in Kettering, has been handed a suspended sentence after the incident which took place on April 27 last year.

Northampton Crown Court heard that, between 12.30am and 1am, 32-year-old Mercieri drove his black BMW 1 Series along the A6183 towards Weekley when he failed to negotiate the roundabout junction with Stamford Road following a night out.

The car went over a grass bank and through a wooden fence, before colliding with a tree. This triggered the BMW’s in-car system, alerting a call centre in Spain of the collision. They in turn called Northamptonshire Police with details of its last known location.

Officers quickly attended the scene and found the 27-year-old passenger trapped in the car. Mercieri was located in the bushes between the vehicle and the roundabout.

Mercieri sustained serious injuries and his passenger suffered life-threatening injuries. They were taken to University Hospital Coventry, where both men received immediate life-saving surgery.

Police said Mercieri appeared intoxicated and provided a blood sample for analysis, which subsequently revealed he was over the prescribed limit for alcohol with a reading of 104 milligrams of alcohol per 100 millilitres of blood. The legal limit is 80 milligrams.

At an earlier court appearance in December last year he pleaded guilty to two offences – causing serious injury by dangerous driving and driving a motor vehicle when the alcohol level was above the limit.

On Monday he was jailed for 12 months, suspended for two years, and was ordered to carry out 150 hours of unpaid work. Mercieri has banned from driving for three years.

Lead investigator PC Nick Timms of the serious collision investigation unit said: “Mercieri’s selfish actions has changed the life of his friend forever. The serious injuries which he sustained because of this traumatic incident has caused him long-term issues which he has to live with on a day-to-day basis.

“Through his own fault, Mercieri will live with the consequences of the decisions he made on that night. Not only the impact it has had on his friend but his own livelihood. He now has a criminal record and no licence for three years.”