A drink and drug-fuelled driver left a town centre looking like a “war zone” after crashing into several cars and people at 80mph, a court has heard.

John Boyle injured four adults and a child and damaged seven vehicles when he drove at four times the speed limit through the centre of Milnathort.

A sheriff told Boyle it was “a miracle” no-one had been killed and remanded him in custody after he admitted causing serious injury by dangerous driving.

Perth Sheriff Court was told Boyle, 33, had taken cocaine and had been drinking in a pub before the crash in the early evening of 2 November 2022.

Sheriff Simon Collins viewed photographs of the trail of destruction left by Boyle and told him: “How everyone walked away from that is entirely beyond me.

“I would have thought that was a miracle. The photographs I have seen are like a war zone – the damage you have done. The culpability would appear to be very much at the high end.”

He disqualified Boyle from driving and deferred sentence until a later date.

Fiscal depute Laurelle Johnstone told the court that Boyle and his cousin were seen drunk in The Muir Inn in Kinross 45 minutes before he was spotted speeding through Milnathort in a BMW.

Jonathan Gardner was driving a VW Up when he tried to take evasive action to avoid being struck by Boyle, but there was a collision and he sustained whiplash injuries and bruising, the court heard.

The prosecutor said Patrick Byrne was driving ahead of Boyle when the driver crashed into his vehicle’s rear end at high speed. Mr Byrne’s Mitsubishi ASX rolled on to its roof and he sustained soft tissue injuries.

Boyle then smashed head-on into David Mackenzie-Mills’ Honda Jazz – shunting it backwards at speed and causing it to smash into a parked VW Sharan. It also ricocheted into a Vauxhall Crossland driven by Ann Gardner.

Mr Mackenzie-Mills sustained a fractured sternum, while Ms Gardner suffered a bloody nose, soft tissue injuries and shock.

A nine-year-old girl had to be rushed to hospital with a fractured clavicle.

The prosecutor said Boyle’s vehicle then collided with a bollard and chain fence, which was thrown through the rear window of a Mazda 3.

Boyle, who sustained a broken ankle, two fractured vertebrae and soft tissue injuries, gave a roadside breath test which showed he was three times over the limit.

Ms Johnstone told the court that all of the vehicles, apart from the Mazda 3, were extensively damaged. The road was completely closed for about six hours.

Solicitor David Holmes, defending, said water industry construction worker Boyle “finds it difficult to look back at November 2022”.

Mr Holmes added: “He also suffered injuries, but that’s his own fault.

“What could have happened as a result of his driving is something he has to reflect upon.

“He has a good work record and is a family man. At the time of the incident he had taken cocaine and that’s the explanation for his driving. He had taken alcohol also.”

He said Boyle had not taken cocaine since the incident.