A man downed pints of lager and shots in a pub before killing a six-year-old boy and two women in a 90mph car crash. Joe-Lewis Tyler, 34, has been jailed for 18 years over the collision on 22 February, when he smashed his BMW into a Ford Mondeo taxi in Worcester . A bartender estimated Tyler had downed around five pints of lager and four Sambuca and Jagermeister shots before getting behind the wheel, Worcester Crown Court heard.
Taxi driver Courtney Hemming had just picked up Leo Painter, six, from school along with Claire Adkins, 39, who was escorting him home, when the BMW smashed into the driver's side of her car as she pulled out of the school entrance onto a 50mph road. Both mother-of-one Ms Hemming and mother-of-three Mrs Adkins, who were related, were killed instantly. Leo died shortly after being taken to Worcestershire Royal Hospital.
Tyler suffered fractures to his shin and ankle and had to undergo spinal surgery. A post-collision analysis found he had between 103 and 215mg of alcohol per 100ml of blood - over the legal limit of 80mg per 100ml. He had also previously taken cocaine and cannabis.
The court heard Tyler had been involved in two near-misses in the minutes before the fatal crash. A driver who saw the BMW before the collision said she feared for her life as the vehicle hit standing water on the road and nearly veered into her. Tyler, of no fixed address, had previously lost control and "spun" the BMW as he tried to negotiate a turn.
He had borrowed the veh.
