Footballer held over death crash

[Jimbo 172]

Footballer held over death crash

 

A professional footballer has been arrested after two boys were killed in a crash on the M6 in Staffordshire.

 

The youngsters, aged eight and 10, died after a Toyota Previa people carrier careered down an embankment following a collision with a Range Rover.

 

Police held the player, who was driving the Range Rover, on suspicion of causing death by dangerous driving.

 

The 37-year-old driver of the Previa was critically injured and a man and two children suffered minor injuries.

 

The arrested man was not hurt, police said.

 

The motorway was closed southbound between junctions 16 and 15 following the incident in the early hours of Saturday morning, and reopened at lunchtime.

 

One boy was pronounced dead at the scene and the other died at the University Hospital of North Staffordshire in Stoke-on-Trent.

 

It is not known which club the footballer plays for.

 

Anyone with information is asked to contact Staffordshire Police.

[Dr Kenneth Noisewater 0]

It's supposed to be Plymouth keeper Luke McCormick.

[Offshore Toon 0]

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/208...l-M6-crash.html

[Craig 6670]

I drove past the scene of the accident yesterday and quite what the fuck McCormick was playing at is beyond me. Straight bit of road before 6am on a Saturday morning and the front vehicle somehow ends up in the ditch from lane 2.

 

He must have been driving like a complete prick! And even if he wasn't, he was over the limit...

 

Hang up your gloves son, you're off to keep Mr Barton company. And I doubt he'll be in there as long as you will.

[Craig 6670]

A Championship footballer has been jailed for seven years and four months for causing the deaths of two children by dangerous driving.

 

Former Plymouth Argyle goalkeeper Luke McCormick, 25, admitted causing the deaths of Arron Peak, 10, and Ben Peak, eight, and driving with excess alcohol.

 

The brothers, from Partington, Greater Manchester, died in a crash on the M6 in Staffordshire on 7 June.

 

McCormick entered his guilty pleas at Stoke-on-Trent Crown Court earlier.

 

The court heard that when breathalysed McCormick, who had been returning from a wedding, was found to have 74 micrograms of alcohol in 100 millilitres of breath.

 

The legal limit is 35 micrograms of alcohol per 100 millilitres of breath.

 

The brothers and their father Philip Peak, 37, were in a Toyota Previa with friends, travelling to Silverstone racetrack, when the crash happened.

 

Their car was involved in a collision with McCormick's Range Rover at about 0545 BST on the southbound carriageway of the motorway between junctions 15 and 16, near Keele services.

 

Mr Peak, 37, who was driving, was seriously injured in the crash.

 

McCormick kept his head bowed and covered his face with his hand as the court heard he had told eyewitnesses at the crash scene: "I am so sorry, I'm sorry. I just fell asleep. I fell asleep, I'm sorry."

 

Before the accident other motorists noticed him "driving like an idiot" and estimated his speed at around 90mph (144km/h).

 

McCormick, a former England youth international, had his contract with Plymouth cancelled by mutual consent a month after the crash.

 

'Hopes shattered'

 

In a victim impact statement the boys' parents, Philip and Amanda Peak, said their lives had been "shattered" by the accident.

 

"All our hopes and dreams for the future have been taken away from us," they said.

 

In mitigation, John Jones told the court McCormick had become introverted and suffered nightmares after the crash.

 

"He was a professional footballer with a potentially glittering future.

 

"His career would have developed, the rewards in every sense of the word, would be limitless."

 

That was lost forever and McCormick is a shadow of his former self, he added.

 

After the hearing, Sgt Steve Robinson of the Central Motorway Police Group, said McCormick had nearly collided with several people before the crash took place.

 

"I am shocked at the speed and the alcohol," he said.

 

"If he had only stopped, this tragedy could have been avoided."

 

Source: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/7654430.stm

[Douggy B 0]

Tragic.