He downed seven pints and five shots, then got into his van and caused carnage

A drink driver who downed seven pints of lager and five shots of tequila during a booze bender left another motorist with life-changing injuries following an horrific crashed on a residential road.

Joseph Dearden, 27, managed to get out of his smashed van and attempted to flee the scene only to be detained by shocked residents who came out and saw a scene of carnage. He was so drunk when police arrested him he was captured on body-cam footage slurring to the cops: "All I have to is play the mental health card."

Now the ''callous and cowardly' driver, from Bolton, has been jailed following the crash which left a string of smashed up cars and debris strewn all over a residential street.

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The drama began when Dearden drove in his company-owned Renault Trafic van to Nook & Cranny pub on Darwen Road in the in the Bromley Cross area of Bolton at 6.33pm on Friday, August 13, 2021. What followed was a three-hour and 40 minute bender in which the subsequent police investigation found he downed seven pints of lager and five shots of tequila.

CCTV showed Dearden staggering out of the pub, towards the front door and 'acting in a drunken and erratic manner', according to police.. He was captured swaying and 'staggering backwards and forwards' clearly unsteady on his feet.

He was so drunk he grabbed at items round him to maintain upright. Despite his condition, he got behind the wheel of his van.

He drove out of the pub away from the pub along Darwen Road where, at speed and on the wrong side of the road, he collided with parked vehicles and smashed head-on into another and then careered into a Range Rover.

The head-on smash left the 25-year-old