Drink driver sentenced to over 17 years in prison for causing crash that killed baby and aunt

Warning: This article contains distressing details.

A drunk driver who caused a car crash that killed an eight-month-old baby and his aunt has been sentenced to over 17 years in prison.

Darryl Anderson, 38, was driving an Audi Q5 when he crashed into a Peugeot 308, killing eight-month-old Zackary Blades and 30-year-old Karlene Warner.

They had been travelling between Chester-le-Street and Durham on the A1(M) at around 3.15am on Friday 31 May.

Zackary’s mother, Shalorna Warner, who was driving the Peugeot, suffered minor injuries.

Anderson, of Clarell Walk, Thorpe Hesley, Rotherham, pleaded guilty to causing death by dangerous driving at a hearing last week.

He has 10 previous convictions, which include drink driving.

At Tuesday's sentencing hearing (9 July), Durham Crown Court was told that seconds before the crash Anderson had taken a picture of his dashboard which showed he was travelling at 141mph.

He was arrested at the scene after the crash and found to be almost three times over the limit when breathalysed. An empty bottle of vodka was found in the Audi debris.

Forensic examinations of his mobile phone also found that the 38-year-old had been repeatedly making calls and sending texts throughout his journey.

He initially denied the offences, telling officers that he had picked up a hitchhiker outside the airport and had allowed him to drive his car.

He claimed to have fallen asleep during the journey and only woke up at the point of the collision.

However, he later admitted to the charges.

Zackary's mother Shalorna spoke at the hearing detailing the moments after the crash and the harrowing impact it had on her.

Addressing Anderson and the court, she said: "I had to pick my dead baby up from the side of the road. Every second of every day, I will relive that night over in my head.

"I am scarred, traumatised and petrified to live my life. Within my heart are Zackary and Karlene. I stand before you as a broken woman and a childless mother. That man got into a vehicle knowing how much he'd drank.

"What did you expect to happen?"

Mitigating, the defence barrister told the court Anderson accepted he drove dangerously and caused the deaths.

He said: "He was not concentrating on the road ahead and for that and the consequences he is profoundly sorry and apologises."

Before passing sentence, Judge Kidd offered her sympathies to the families admitting no sentence could reflect the "incalculable" loss they had suffered.

Speaking to Anderson directly, she said: "Seconds before this fatal collision you used your phone to take a screenshot of your speedometer. It is a chilling image.

"I do not know why you took the picture. I don't know if you were intending to send it to someone to show off.

"Photographs of the scene are the stuff of nightmares but however upsetting they are they pale into insignificance of what Shalorna saw at the scene.

"The reality is you played Russian roulette with the lives of every man, woman and child you passed on that journey."

Family victim statement in full:

Shalorna Warner told Durham Crown Court: “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 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.

“I will feel the ripples of this pain 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.”

Addressing the judge, she said: “Your Honour, I stand before you today a broken shell of a woman and a childless mother. But this guilt is not mine to bear – this guilt is owed to the person that caused this infinite agony. I hope the pain of this weighs them down for all eternity.

“Nothing will bring my son and my sister back to me. The only way forward for myself is if the defendant faces the same sentence I am facing – life. The irony of it all is that I will never see my loved ones again, but he will.”

Shalorna Warner spoke to the media outside court after sentencing.

Speaking after the sentencing, Detective Constable Natalie Horner, of Durham Constabulary’s Collision Investigation Unit, said: “As roads policing officers, we routinely ask people not to drive above the speed limit. We routinely ask people not to use their mobile phones while driving. And we routinely ask people not to get behind the wheel while intoxicated.

“Darryl Anderson was doing all three of those things when he collided with Shalorna Warner’s car, killing both passengers, Karlene and baby Zackary.

“For his actions, Anderson has been sentenced to more than 17 years in prison, but it is his victims and their family who have been handed life sentences.

“It is them who will spend the rest of their lives grieving the loss of their son, their grandchild, their wife, their sister, and their mother.

“And for what?”

She added: “I would like to take this moment to pass on our sincere gratitude to those who have been affected by this tragic incident.

“To the witnesses who came upon this scene in the middle of the night, and showed incredible bravery in how they acted, but who should never have had to witness or intervene in such things in the first place.

“To our police officers and emergency services colleagues who responded to this incident, both in the immediate aftermath and throughout the investigation, and who will carry with them the effects of this crash for the rest of their lives.

“And to Shalorna and her family, who have shown truly unbelievable strength and humility throughout this ordeal, under the most horrific circumstances, and who must now attempt to rebuild their lives in the wake of their loss.

“Darryl Anderson’s name should now become a footnote in this tragic story.

“The names we should remember, and the people who should remain in our thoughts, are Karlene and Zackary, and their remarkable family.”

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