Dangerous Driver Faces Jail Over Christmas Day Smash

A man who left his friend with horrific injuries after ploughing his souped up car into a tree when he tried to overtake yards from a blind corner on a Christmas Day cruise with friends was today facing jail.

Ryan Willis had pal Stewart Myles in the passenger seat when he met other petrolhead pals at a car park in Dundee late in the night of Christmas Day 2013.

They drove to rural Angus where Willis tried to overtake - pulling back in to his side of the road yards from a blind corner.

But he then lost control of his highly modified Honda Civic - careering off the road and into a fence then a tree.

Mr Myles was left with a broken jaw, as well as dislocating one foot and breaking another.

He was left needing an operation to insert screws into his feet and was in a wheelchair for weeks following the smash.

A sheriff told Willis he and his friend were "lucky to survive this accident".

Fiscal depute Eilidh Robertson told Dundee Sheriff Court that Willis's car was "heavily modified".

She said: "He and his friends are described as 'active car enthusiasts'.

"They met in Dundee and planned to go to KFC - but realised on arrival it was closed as it was Christmas.

"They then drove to Arbroath via Brechin.

"Kelsie McShane was driving her car at around 55mph when the accused overtook her.

"She estimates he was doing just over 60mph.

"He completed the manouevre just before the blind corner where he came back to the correct side of the road and lost control.

"Witnesses say he fishtailed with the rear swerving out of control.

"The car struck a large tree causing it to turn 180 degrees.

"Mr Myles was left with a broken jaw, a dislocated right foot and a broken left foot.

"He needed 15 stitches to his face as well as an operation to insert screws and wires into his foot."

Willis, 23 from Dundee, pleaded guilty on indictment to a charge of dangerous driving.

Defence solicitor Nicky Brown said: "He didn't know the road but he got to party of the road he thought he knew and went to overtake having been behind the other car for 10 miles.

"It was not a race situation.

"I have warned him it is a very, very serious charge and he is well aware of the position he is in."

Sheriff Elizabeth Munro deferred sentence until next month for social work background reports and banned Willis from the road ahead of his sentencing.

She said: "It may not feel like it at the moment but you are really lucky to have survived this accident, as is Mr Myles.

"There are other parts of the road where you could have collided with far worse than a fence or a tree."