Footballer jailed over crash deaths

2:54pm Monday 6th October 2008

A drunken professional footballer has been jailed for seven years for killing two young boys as he drove "like an idiot".

Arron Peak, 10, and his brother Ben, eight, were on a dream day out when former Plymouth Argyle goalkeeper Luke McCormick ploughed into their car in his powerful black Range Rover.

McCormick, who was more than twice the drink drive limit as he drove home from a team-mate's wedding, finally admitted causing death by dangerous driving when he appeared at Stoke-on-Trent Crown Court on Monday. The 25-year-old also admitted a charge of driving with excess alcohol.

The brothers, from Partington in Manchester, were travelling along the M6 in Staffordshire when the crash happened shortly before 5.45am on June 7.

They were on their way to Silverstone racetrack for a day out with their father Phil Peak and three friends when their Toyota Previa people carrier was hit. Mr Peak, 37, was at the wheel of the Toyota and was seriously injured in the crash.

McCormick, dressed in a dark suit, kept his head bowed and covered his face with his hand as it was revealed he told eyewitnesses at the scene: "I am so sorry, I'm sorry. I just fell asleep. I fell asleep, I'm sorry."

Prior to the collision, other motorists noticed McCormick "driving like an idiot" and estimated his speed at around 90mph, the court heard. After the crash, he 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.

Coventry-born McCormick, who was confronted by angry relatives of Ben and Arron when he arrived at court on Monday, is a former England youth international and was twice voted Argyle's young player of the season. His contract with Argyle was cancelled by "mutual consent" a month after the crash.

In a victim statement submitted to the judge, Mr and Mrs Peak, told how their lives had been "totally devastated" by the deaths of their only children.

The couple wrote: "Our whole lives have been shattered...all our hopes and dreams for the future have been taken away from us."

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