A learner driver who was over the legal alcohol limit when he crashed his car and caused his friend “catastrophic” injuries has been jailed for two years and four months.

Loui Baillie-McLauchlan claimed he swerved to avoid a deer in Lamberhurst before hitting a tree.

Front seat passenger Shaun Sturmer, 36, was left a quadriplegic and is now confined to a wheelchair, while the driver walked away uninjured. Neither was wearing a seatbelt.

A judge said of 24-year-old Baillie-McLauchlan being only a provisional licence holder: “He should never have been anywhere near that car, and he had been drinking as well.”

Judge Julian Smith admitted: “I make it clear that no sentence I can pass can in any way reflect the harm that has happened.

"Nor can the sentence be expected to punish you in a way that can match that loss.”

Baillie-McLauchlan, of Waterdown Road, Tunbridge Wells, had previously pleaded guilty causing serious injury by dangerous driving, driving with excess alcohol and having no licence or insurance.

A three-year driving ban will start on his release and he will have to take an extended test before being allowed back on the road.

“He should never have been anywhere near that car, and he had been drinking as well...” - Judge Julian Smith

Maidstone Crown Court heard the friends had been out drinking on April 20 and were in Baillie-McLauchlan’s Skoda Fabia, which he had bought the day before, after 2.20am the next day.

Describing the car as “something of an old banger”, prosecutor Anthony Heaton-Armstrong said Baillie-McLauchlan lost control on a right-hand bend on the B2169 at Bells Yew Green and careered across the carriageway.

It hit the tree, causing it to roll. Baillie-McLauchlan called an ambulance and stayed with his friend. He made full admissions to police at the scene.

“The effects have been catastrophic,” said Mr Heaton-Armstrong. “Something less than death could hardly be imagined.”

Mr Sturmer, from Tunbridge Wells, suffered fractures to his spine and was treated in Stoke Mandeville Hospital in Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire. He has since been transferred to Pembroke Hospital.

“He can’t do anything apart from move his left shoulder,” said Mr Heaton-Armstrong. “Everything has to be done for him. It will remain the position for the rest of his life.

“Because the defendant wasn’t insured, there is no guarantee from the Motor Insurers Bureau that Mr Sturmer will be compensated in any way.

“There is no guarantee he is actually going to survive the effects of this. He needs 24-hour care.

"He has gone from being an active person working as a roofer to being wheelchair bound and entirely dependent on the care of others.”

Most heartrending, he said, the victim felt isolated and lonely because hospital visits were limited.

Baillie-McLauchlan, who has previous convictions for being drunk and disorderly and criminal damage, was said to have been driving too fast for the country roads.

“Everything has to be done for him. It will remain the position for the rest of his life..." - prosecutor Anthony Heaton-Armstrong on victim Shaun Sturmer

Mr Sturmer said in a statement he told his friend to slow down, adding: “The way he was driving was quite stupid.”

Describing it as “a tragic and difficult case”, Abbe Arnold, defending, said to some degree both Baillie-McLauchlan and Mr Sturmer were acting recklessly.

“The truth of the matter is this young man also wasn’t wearing a seatbelt and he walked away,” she said. “His best friend was left in a terrible state.

“He fully accepts the consequences of his actions. It reflects grievous bodily harm. He is completely horrified and appalled by the injuries.

“Had he been an experienced driver not in drink, he would have reacted differently to the deer.”

Baillie-McLauchlan, a groundsman who suffers from ADHD, had not thought it appropriate to contact Mr Sturmer while the case was pending, but missed him.

“If he could do anything to turn back the clock, he would do so,” added Miss Arnold.

“He will have to live with the consequences of his actions that night.”

Baillie-McLauchlan’s train driver father and his mother, a nurse, sat on one side of the public gallery and Mr Sturmer’s mother, sat on the other side.

“His life is ruined. He has got no life at all. He is waiting to go to a nursing home. He will never come home...” - Linda Hards, Shaun Sturmer's mother

Passing sentence, Judge Smith said: “This is a tragic case. There is no doubt the impact upon you of any custodial sentence is significant. You are a young man with a substantial life and opportunity ahead of you.

“It is profoundly tragic in relation to the injury, the devastation caused to your friend that night by your driving. You are culpable, you are responsible.

“There are features of this case which are grave, which are serious. The sentence is one of custody, and inevitably so.

“Had you been less affected by drink and had more experience of driving at less speed and more appropriate to the conditions, and driven into the deer, you would not have caused the tragic consequences you did.”

The judge said of the victim: “He is at risk every day of catastrophic worsening of his condition and death. It is a massive and catastrophic injury which leaves Mr Sturmer’s family in a state of devastation.”

His mother, Linda Hards, said afterwards: “His life is ruined. He has got no life at all. He is waiting to go to a nursing home. He will never come home.”

She said of the sentence: “We would have liked it to be longer.”