A speeding driver who ruined a teenager's life in a horror smash is finally behind bars after more than a year on the run.
Kevin Bernard sped in a black Audi S3 along Southport Road in Bootle at 86mph - nearly three times the road's 30mh limit. Lee Baxter meanwhile was heading to his 19th birthday party at his mum's house with two friends in his blue Ford Fiesta.
Bernard hit the Fiesta, inflicting multiple injuries including brain damage on the teen, who was left fighting for his life in a coma. Mr Baxter's mum refused to turn off his life support machine - despite the advice of doctors - and the next day he started to recover.
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But the now 22-year-old "had to learn how to breathe, talk, walk and eat" again and his personality was dramatically altered. Bernard, 44, denied causing serious injury by dangerous driving in the horrific crash, late on Saturday, June 16, 2018.
Yet he disappeared in December 2020 and failed to attend his trial last May, when he was found guilty, or his sentencing that July. Bernard was handed six years in prison in his absence, when a judge also sentenced him for a series of driving related frauds.
The wanted fugitive finally appeared in the dock at Liverpool Crown Court yesterday, when he admitted breach of bail. Callum Ross, prosecuting, said Bernard's failure to surrender involved a "deliberate" attempt to evade or delay justice.
Gareth Roberts, defending, said his client, of Riversdale Road, Aigburth, handed himself in at a police station on Monday. Judge Brian Cummings, QC, gave Bernard two months in jail, to be served consecutively to his existing six-year sentence.
The court previously heard how Mr Baxter's car was hit as he turned onto Southport Road, from Earl Road, at around 11.35pm. Bernard was driving along Southport Road when he decided to undertake a car and accelerate around 150m from the junction.
Judge Garrett Byrne said he reached speeds of approximately 86mph, which was captured on "quite shocking" CCTV footage. He said this speed was "obviously dangerous" and Mr Baxter's actions "in no way contributed to the collision that then occurred".
Judge Byrne said Bernard started braking only 1.5 seconds before hitting the Fiesta on its driver's side and didn't have time to stop. He said if he had been doing 30mph he could have avoided the crash, but the impact pushed the driver's door almost to the handbrake.
Mr Baxter suffered a severe brain injury, a collapsed and bruised lung, a cut to the right kidney and broken hips and pelvis. Graham Pickavance, prosecuting, said Mr Baxter's mum described how her son is no longer the same person.
He read from a victim impact statement in which Dawn Baxter outlined how she now cares for him while he undergoes extensive physiotherapy, described the change in her son's personality, and how the crash cost him a job he had been due to start. Mr Baxter's passengers, Sophie Fearnon, 19, and Callum Gallagher, 18, were also taken to hospital.
Ms Fearnon suffered a broken pelvis and bleeding into a lung, while Mr Gallagher sustained minor injuries. Bernard has past convictions including assault causing actual bodily harm, assaulting police and producing cannabis.
He was stopped by police for driving without insurance on June 11, 2017, for which he was fined and given six penalty points. However, he went on to apply for insurance on four occasions in his dad's name, putting himself down as a named driver and paying with his credit card, but without disclosing his penalty points or convictions.
The first three fraudulent applications were in February and March 2018 and related to the Audi he later wrote off in Bootle. He was convicted on April 16, 2018 of speeding in a HGV and given five penalty points, before the crash on June 16 that year.
Bernard then bought a Mercedes C63 for nearly £19,000 and fraudulently insured it using the same method in August 2018. He admitted four counts of fraud before he went on the run.
Nicola Daley, defending, said the only element of her client's dangerous driving was his "excessive speed". She said the road was "relatively quiet" at the time.
Judge Byrne said the case involved "a deliberate decision to ignore or having a flagrant disregard for the rules of the road and an apparent disregard for the great danger of risk being caused to others". The judge said the maximum sentence for causing serious injuries by dangerous driving was five years in prison.
He handed Bernard four years in jail for that offence, but a further two years for the frauds, to be served consecutively. Judge Byrne banned Bernard from the road for eight years and said he must take an extended retest before driving again.
