Drunk driver who killed two claims hitch-hiker was driving
Discussion
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cxe2j8x222go
A drunk driver who was taking selfies of himself speeding at 140mph on the A1M killed two when he crashed into their car. He emerged unscathed and then in hospital claimed he was afraid of needles despite being heavily tattooed when trying to take a blood sample.
After one interview where he said "no comment" repeatedly, he decided to claim he had been flagged down by a hitchhiker, who he agreed to give a lift to on condition that he had a valid driving licence as he was tired and didn't want to drive. He then claimed that the hitch-hiker was driving at the time of the crash and he had been asleep in the passenger seat and had only awoken during the crash.
Drunk driver's DNA was found all over the airbag and he has been found guilty of two counts of causing death by dangerous driving, jailed for 17 years and three months and banned for 21 years and six months.
Aside from the tragedy and stupidity of the driver's actions, his lie was absolutely preposterous. It makes me wonder what stupid or unbelievable excuses or alibis our police and ex-police members have had to listen to, and whether any of them turned out to be true in the end. Police did investigate the possibility that there was a hitchhiker driver who had conveniently disappeared from the scene of the accident.
A drunk driver who was taking selfies of himself speeding at 140mph on the A1M killed two when he crashed into their car. He emerged unscathed and then in hospital claimed he was afraid of needles despite being heavily tattooed when trying to take a blood sample.
After one interview where he said "no comment" repeatedly, he decided to claim he had been flagged down by a hitchhiker, who he agreed to give a lift to on condition that he had a valid driving licence as he was tired and didn't want to drive. He then claimed that the hitch-hiker was driving at the time of the crash and he had been asleep in the passenger seat and had only awoken during the crash.
Drunk driver's DNA was found all over the airbag and he has been found guilty of two counts of causing death by dangerous driving, jailed for 17 years and three months and banned for 21 years and six months.
Aside from the tragedy and stupidity of the driver's actions, his lie was absolutely preposterous. It makes me wonder what stupid or unbelievable excuses or alibis our police and ex-police members have had to listen to, and whether any of them turned out to be true in the end. Police did investigate the possibility that there was a hitchhiker driver who had conveniently disappeared from the scene of the accident.
Edited by LunarOne on Tuesday 9th July 18:39
Many years ago I crashed on the M25 when taking avoiding action to avoid someone going significantly slower than me without lights in the dark. Guess they had to drive slowly as they couldn’t see where they were going.
Anyway I was able to limp the car to the hard shoulder and called the Police. After a little while I saw blue lights appearing but they went past me. Shortly afterwards another police car arrived. He asked If I was alone and I replied yes, he said you sure you were alone yes I say. Ok he says and went on to breathlyse me etc.
After a while another police car turns up. Police man says you sure you were alone? Yes definitely. Oh can you look in the rear of this police car. Look in and there’s a guy sitting there. Police ask if I know him.
No never seen him before. Oh we picked him up walking along the motorway further down the motorway and he says he was with you! Of course the question was how had he known I crashed but he definitely hadn’t been with me!
Anyway I was able to limp the car to the hard shoulder and called the Police. After a little while I saw blue lights appearing but they went past me. Shortly afterwards another police car arrived. He asked If I was alone and I replied yes, he said you sure you were alone yes I say. Ok he says and went on to breathlyse me etc.
After a while another police car turns up. Police man says you sure you were alone? Yes definitely. Oh can you look in the rear of this police car. Look in and there’s a guy sitting there. Police ask if I know him.
No never seen him before. Oh we picked him up walking along the motorway further down the motorway and he says he was with you! Of course the question was how had he known I crashed but he definitely hadn’t been with me!
By chance I travelled that same route (airport return run) around 24 hours after this incident, only read about it today. I had my young family with me after a holiday.
The account of the young baby that was killed is obviously very harrowing, the BBC rightly went into graphic detail.
I’ll not repeat what was written as it’s too upsetting but agree with the sentiment it should have been per life taken regards the sentence. The back of the car he hit ceased to exist and this could have been any one of us or our family that were killed by the arrogance of this coward, who then went on to lie and flirt with the nurses that were treating him??
Sadly road death is a lot more common than we think but for me it’s brough home, even driving 20K or so miles a year, by articles such as this.
RIP to Zackary and his aunt Karlene, taken way too young just because they happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time and sharing the road with this animal.
The account of the young baby that was killed is obviously very harrowing, the BBC rightly went into graphic detail.
I’ll not repeat what was written as it’s too upsetting but agree with the sentiment it should have been per life taken regards the sentence. The back of the car he hit ceased to exist and this could have been any one of us or our family that were killed by the arrogance of this coward, who then went on to lie and flirt with the nurses that were treating him??
Sadly road death is a lot more common than we think but for me it’s brough home, even driving 20K or so miles a year, by articles such as this.
RIP to Zackary and his aunt Karlene, taken way too young just because they happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time and sharing the road with this animal.
I once did jury service and the defendant claimed that he was out on a test drive with the buyer of his car driving throughout.
The chase was over half an hour long all with police dashcam, clearly only one head visible on the car being chased (his defence was that he reclined his seat as he was relaxed and pleased he’d sold his car)
The dashcam footage shows him under steering around a corner head on into a bus coming the other way.
He was filmed being cut out of the drivers side (his defence was that the driver jumped out and as his door was mangled he tried to get out of the drivers side, he couldn’t explain why his legs were trapped or seat belt on though)
(Fortunately no one other than the defendant was seriously hurt)
He was found guilty after about 2 minutes in the jury room, but we held out for sandwiches to give the appearance on a considered verdict.
The chase was over half an hour long all with police dashcam, clearly only one head visible on the car being chased (his defence was that he reclined his seat as he was relaxed and pleased he’d sold his car)
The dashcam footage shows him under steering around a corner head on into a bus coming the other way.
He was filmed being cut out of the drivers side (his defence was that the driver jumped out and as his door was mangled he tried to get out of the drivers side, he couldn’t explain why his legs were trapped or seat belt on though)
(Fortunately no one other than the defendant was seriously hurt)
He was found guilty after about 2 minutes in the jury room, but we held out for sandwiches to give the appearance on a considered verdict.
My biggest issue is I have seen other sources suggesting 10 prior driving convictions (inc prior convictions for drink driving)
How on earth is it not a lifetime driving ban - they have now killed while drink driving again.
Yes, the t
t will ignore a lifetime ban; But at least then you have some hope of catching them before they crash again...
IMHO any driving ban should result in mandatory black box. There should also be serious consideration as to whether the driver needs periodic retesting forever (i.e. court can (and is encouraged) to order that once ban is served driver now has to pass a test every X (5?) years).
How on earth is it not a lifetime driving ban - they have now killed while drink driving again.
Yes, the t
t will ignore a lifetime ban; But at least then you have some hope of catching them before they crash again...IMHO any driving ban should result in mandatory black box. There should also be serious consideration as to whether the driver needs periodic retesting forever (i.e. court can (and is encouraged) to order that once ban is served driver now has to pass a test every X (5?) years).
Simpo Two said:
Brett748 said:
Death penalty would be proportionate in my view.
Hard labour would be more useful - eg filling in potholes for life.qwerty360 said:
IMHO any driving ban should result in mandatory black box. There should also be serious consideration as to whether the driver needs periodic retesting forever (i.e. court can (and is encouraged) to order that once ban is served driver now has to pass a test every X (5?) years).
What would a black box achieve? Increase his insurance? It's going to be sky-high when he eventually gets his licence back, if he can pass the test to get it back. He's already got to have an extended driving test and he'll be getting on in years by the time he can hold a licence again.DickyC said:
Ms Warner tearfully described frantically searching for her son – who was thrown from out of his car seat and into the opposite carriageway of the motorway.
You can't imagine it, can you? Poor woman. A lorry driver found the baby's body.
The bbc news reader on the 6 o clock news was holding back tears reporting it this evening. You can't imagine it, can you? Poor woman. A lorry driver found the baby's body.
The description the mother gave of hearing the lorry driver scream when he found the baby was harrowing
qwerty360 said:
My biggest issue is I have seen other sources suggesting 10 prior driving convictions (inc prior convictions for drink driving)
How on earth is it not a lifetime driving ban - they have now killed while drink driving again.
Sadly it is virtually impossible to get a lifetime ban from driving in this country. The Court of Appeal recently overturned a lifetime ban for a driver who has been banned on TWENTY FOUR previous occasions. Apparently it's totally unreasonable to expect someone to take the bus or ride a bike for the rest of his life and it would make his rehabilitation impossible, or something. It's as if the Court of Appeal is composed entirely of anti-ULEZ protesters.How on earth is it not a lifetime driving ban - they have now killed while drink driving again.
https://www.bsbsolicitors.co.uk/blog/driving-disqu...
Given the attitude taken by the Court of Appeal it's probably not fair to blame the individual judge in this case - by banning him for 21 years he was probably going as long as he thought he could without being overruled on appeal.
I encountered an RTC. 2 vehicles, no one on scene.
It appeared that v1 had hit v2 which was parked.
There was blood on the airbag of v1 so that was my main concern. No sooner had I got the address of the owner (1 road over) when the owner calls in to report v1 stolen.
Owner of v1 claims he lost the keys to the car months ago, and that he hadn't replaced them because the MOT had expired and it didn't have any insurance.
No damage to the ignition, no MoT and no insurance - check, matches his account.
What he doesn't know is that I've already checked the car, looking for evidence of theft. I've found very recent personal documents in the car. These were weeks old, not months. The owners work ID was in the car as was a laptop, and a few other items that someone who regularly uses a car might have.
I had to seize the laptop to establish ownership, after all it was unlikely to be the owner's, because he hadn't used the car for months and didn't have a key!!
ANPR showed the car being driven almost daily.
Forensics came back that the blood on the airbag was the owner's.
He got found guilty of perverting the course of justice amongst other offences.
Not sure how he thought he would get away with it.
It appeared that v1 had hit v2 which was parked.
There was blood on the airbag of v1 so that was my main concern. No sooner had I got the address of the owner (1 road over) when the owner calls in to report v1 stolen.
Owner of v1 claims he lost the keys to the car months ago, and that he hadn't replaced them because the MOT had expired and it didn't have any insurance.
No damage to the ignition, no MoT and no insurance - check, matches his account.
What he doesn't know is that I've already checked the car, looking for evidence of theft. I've found very recent personal documents in the car. These were weeks old, not months. The owners work ID was in the car as was a laptop, and a few other items that someone who regularly uses a car might have.
I had to seize the laptop to establish ownership, after all it was unlikely to be the owner's, because he hadn't used the car for months and didn't have a key!!
ANPR showed the car being driven almost daily.
Forensics came back that the blood on the airbag was the owner's.
He got found guilty of perverting the course of justice amongst other offences.
Not sure how he thought he would get away with it.
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