A terrified teenager sent a haunting text message to her friends moments before she was killed in a high-speed crash caused by a drunk driver. Erin Slane, 19, wrote to her pals, “I may not survive tonight. I’m scared. Kyle is steaming,” as she was being driven at speeds of up to 119 miles per hour along rural roads in Perthshire, Scotland.
The High Court in Edinburgh heard that Kyle Patrick, 23, had been drinking in Perth city centre before offering lifts to people. He picked up Miss Slane and her friend Keira Jones, also 19, outside a bar. Patrick then drove at excessive speed on the B9099 Luncarty to Stanley road, losing control of his Ford Fiesta. The car left the road, tumbled down a grass embankment, rolled several times, and came to rest on its roof.
Prosecutor Graeme Jessop KC told the court that Miss Slane sent two text messages to her friends: the first at 1:57 am stating “I may not survive tonight. I’m scared. Kyle is steaming,” and a second at 2:05 am saying “Kyle is steaming.” The fatal collision occurred around 2:10 am.
Patrick survived the crash, and Miss Jones suffered a fractured arm, nine broken ribs, a fractured pelvis, and a fractured finger, but has since made a full physical recovery. However, Miss Slane died from blunt force head injuries. The crash happened just two days before her 20th birthday, and she was due to start studying at Napier University on September 14, 2024.
Police found that Patrick had been drinking earlier that night and had taken £10 from a teenager for a lift from Perth to Bankfoot before returning to the city centre. After the crash, at 2:51 am, Patrick called police, stating he had been involved in a collision, had been drinking, and had pulled a passenger from the car. He said he was “so sorry for driving.”
Blood tests taken at 4:30 am, two hours and 20 minutes after the crash, showed he was more than three times the drink-driving limit. Investigators also found from his car’s infotainment module that he had reached speeds of 119 mph.
Patrick, from Scone, Perthshire, pleaded guilty to causing Miss Slane’s death and serious injury to Miss Jones by dangerous driving while impaired by alcohol. Defence advocate Tony Lenehan KC said Patrick knows the “terrible harm he has done” and accepts he deserves a substantial prison sentence. Lord Harrower remanded Patrick in custody and called for a background report, sentencing him to be sentenced at the High Court in Dundee on June 9, 2026.
