A mother has issued a warning after her son was killed in a horror drink-drive crash with a friend who was going at ‘insane’ 100mph speeds before ploughing his BMW into a tree.
The horror-drive crash
Sammy Phillips, 19, and Lewis Moghul, 22, both from Oxfordshire, died instantly when the car they were in veered onto the wrong side of the road while going round a bend and crashed on February 3.
An inquest heard that the driver, Moghul, was more than three times the legal limit and had been driving at ‘insane’ speeds of up to 100mph before the accident.
Warning from a mother
Mr Phillips’ mother Justine Morris has warned other youngsters to ‘think of your mum’ before drink-driving and revealed her son’s devastating last words.
She told the hearing that prior to the accident her son had asked her to save him some dinner, promising ‘I’ll be home by 10.’
Ms Morris said: ‘Unexpectedly he ran into friends he hadn’t seen for a while. A photo taken at 9.52pm that evening and posted on social media shows three mates, smiling and sharing a drink.’
She continued: ‘Less than an hour later two of them were dead — Lewis, who was driving, and Sammy, his passenger.
‘Bad choices were made that night. This was not an unfortunate accident. It was a tragedy that should never have happened.
‘When Lewis and Sammy got into that BMW, they took a gamble with their lives and they lost. I am sure Sammy’s friend didn’t set out to kill them both that evening but that’s the harsh reality of what happened.’
‘Think of your mum,’ she warns
She then warned other young men not to drink and drive, pleading: ‘Think of your mum.’
‘At 19, Sammy was on the cusp of great things. He’d recently found his calling as a tree surgeon and had landed his first proper job. After struggling academically, he now had every reason to feel good about himself’, she said.
Mrs Morris pointed out how her son had a ‘wide circle’ of friends and ‘plans’.
‘It was wonderful to hear him talk about his hopes and dreams for the future’, she said.
She added: ‘Sammy knew how proud we were of him and how far he’d come in the past couple of years.’
Oxford Coroner’s Court heard on Tuesday that the pair had died instantly when Mr Moghul’s red BMW 2 series coupe left the road and struck two trees.
The car was estimated to have been travelling at between 70mph and 100mph on the A4130 between Bix and Nettlebed. The two men had been drinking together in Henley before the crash.
