Man left friend for dead after crash to throw drugs out window

A man was found throwing cocaine and cannabis out of his window after leaving his friend for dead.

Haydn Patterson, of Barons Close in Widnes, was out with his friend Kevin Viles, 41, at a pub on Monday, October 17 2022. The friends spent around two hours in the Widnes pub, before leaving at around 5.40pm in Patterson’s Mini Cooper.

The 30-year-old drove towards Runcorn, travelling over the Mersey Gateway bridge and onto the Central Expressway. At around 5.55pm, Patterson turned onto the Southern Expressway, where he lost control of the car.

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Chester Crown Court heard on Tuesday, May 14 Patterson initially drove towards the central reservation, before steering away, resulting in the Mini Cooper rotating across the carriageway and onto a grass verge where it rolled onto the roof and up the embankment.

Following the crash, Patterson climbed out of the car and spoke to a witness at the scene, before running off on foot, leaving Kevin in the car with serious injuries. Emergency services were called to the scene and Kevin was later freed from the car before being taken to Aintree University Hospital.

Patterson was later found by officers at his home in Widnes, where he was seen throwing wraps of cocaine and cannabis out of the window, before again attempting to make off on foot, but was quickly located and arrested in relation to the incident.

Following his arrest, Patterson was taken to hospital as a precautionary measure where officers were able to conduct a breath test, which he had initially refused on arrest and take a blood sample.

The results showed that he was under the influence of both cocaine and cannabis at the time of the crash – with both amounts exceeding the specified limits whilst driving.

During questioning, Patterson admitted that he was the driver of the car, but he attempted to claim that the collision had been caused by another vehicle which had driven into his lane – which was disproven by both people who witnessed the incident and the forensic collision investigator.

Despite his denial, he was later charged in relation to the incident. While in hospital, doctors found that Kevin had sustained non-survivable brain and chest injuries due to the crash, and he passed away with his family present on Friday, November 18 2022.

Patterson was sentenced to nine years in prison; to serve a minimum of six years of this sentence. On release he will remain on licence until the end of the nine year sentence He had pleaded guilty to causing death by careless driving while over the drug drive limit (cocaine and cannabis).

He also admitted possession of class A drugs (cocaine) and possession of class B drugs (cannabis).

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