Drink-driver killed son's best friend.

A DRINK-DRIVER who killed his son's best friend has been locked up for six years.

Shaun Sandford had downed up to seven cans before climbing behind the wheel of his Renault Megane.

His son, Jamie Mounsey, 18, was sat in the front seat and his closest friend Graham Pinnington, 23, was in the back.

Liverpool Crown Court heard Sandford, who has repeatedly been disqualified for drinkdriving, lost control of his car as he approached a bend, smashing into a wall.

When emergency crews arrived at the scene on Marshalls Cross Road, St Helens, Mr Pinnington was lying on the pavement clearly in pain.

He was taken to hospital and had emergency surgery to remove his right kidney and spleen.

Despite further operations, he died a week later, on June 28, 2008, from multiple organ failure.

Sandford, of Fleet Lane, St Helens, claimed he had stopped drinking hours before he got into the car at about 4am as the group left a friend's birthday party. He insisted he felt "perfectly fine to drive".

Tests, taken over two hours later, showed 99mg of alcohol in 100ml of blood.

The legal limit is 80mg.

Prosecutor Ian Harris told the court Sandford had already been disqualified from driving three times after being caught over the limit.

Just a month before the accident on June 22, last year, he had also been caught using his mobile while driving.

Recorder of Liverpool, Judge Henry Globe, QC, said: "On any of those three previous convictions, the effects could have been catastrophic. On this occasion, it was."

Sandford's barrister, Tom Watson, said his client, who admitted causing death by careless driving while over the limit, was "deeply remorseful".

He added: "It's undoubtedly the case that Shaun Sandford must carry the burden for what he did forever.

"He caused the accident and caused the death of a young man who had so much in front of him."