Two people sustained serious injuries in the collision

A professional football player has been handed a jail sentence for causing a serious crash after taking laughing gas. Flynn Clarke, 20, who played for Norwich City was driving a BMW when it swerved into the opposite carriageway.

The BMW then hit a motorhome head-on at 50mph near Thorney in Cambridgeshire. The motorhome owner and a rear-seat passenger of the BMW sustained serious injuries in the collision.

Prosecutors said witnesses had described Clarke, a Scotland Under-21 international, driving in an “indecisive manner” and struggling to stay in his lane prior to the crash in April 2022.

Evidence of the use of nitrous oxide – a popular recreational drug better known as laughing gas – was found in the car.

Clarke was jailed for 12 months at Peterborough Crown Court and banned from driving for 30 months. He had previously pleaded guilty to three charges of causing serious injury by dangerous driving.