Feckless father sparked horror crash after going drink-driving with TWO-YEAR-OLD son in backseat
Car firm worker Robert Sykes was returning form drinks with pal at 10pm when he slammed into a Honda in Padiham, Lancs
A FECKLESS father went drink-driving with his two-year-old son in the back seat and sparked a horror car crash
Robert Sykes, 32, was more than three times the limit on Special Brew lager when he lost control of his Nissan Micra at a roundabout and ploughed into another vehicle.
Immediately after the crash, Sykes grabbed the toddler from a child seat inside his mangled vehicle before fleeing into a nearby house.
He was arrested when the driver of the other car, a Honda, and eye-witnesses directed police to the property.
As police asked him to take a breath-test Sykes confessed: ''It will blow over. I'm getting arrested.''
Miraculously no one was injured in the 10pm smash in Padiham, Lancs, on September 9 although the Nissan was written off.
The youngster was checked over in hospital before being returned to his mother.
It emerged Sykes who works for a car dealership had been babysitting but had decided to go out for drinks with a friend and was on his way home with his son when the crash occurred .
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At Burnley magistrates court he admitted driving with excess alcohol and being drunk in charge of a child but escaped with four weeks in prison, suspended for a year, with 150 hours unpaid work and was banned for two years.
He was also ordered to pay £85 costs and a £115 victim surcharge.
Later at home, Sykes - who has a picture on his Facebook page of himself and the child wearing matching T-shirts saying 'Pint' and 'Half Pint' - said: ''I don't want to talk about this.''
Sykes gave a sample showing 110 microgrammes of alcohol in 100 millilitres of breath. The legal limit is 35mg.
Prosecutor Mrs Tracy Yates said:"In interview, he made a full admission to the offences and said he was sorry for doing it. He said he had felt fine, struggled at the roundabout and hit a vehicle. He admitted to having had his young son in the car and he was very apologetic. He said it was wrong to drink and drive."
In mitigation defence lawyer Nick Cassidy said: "He knows he has only himself to blame.”
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