Drunk driver drowned in bid to swim lough to evade police

A DRUNK driver drowned trying to swim across the border from the North to the Republic in a bid to escape police.

Lewis Murphy, 46, punched one officer who chased him to the edge of Carlingford Lough, Warrenpoint, Co Down, before wading into the notoriously treacherous waters.

He taunted police by claiming he was heading for Omeath, Co Louth, on the other side.

As Constable Gerrard Pollock went in after him, the mechanic swam further and further from the shore.

Mr Pollock told Newry Coroners Court: “He shouted: ‘F**k youse, you will not be getting me, I’m going to the south.’”

But within 30 minutes, and despite rescue attempts involving three separate boats, he went under. His body was recovered at the scene hours later.

A post-mortem examination revealed he was more than three times over the legal blood-alcohol limit.

Mr Murphy’s long term partner, Margaret Murtagh, said he was a passionate swimmer who was bored with using the local pool.

Before the couple returned home to Rostrevor, Co Down, after living in Stockport, England, for nearly 20 years, Mr Murphy regularly swam across reservoirs, she said.

Police pursued Mr Murphy’s Mitsubishi Shogun in May last year after a taxi driver reported the jeep was being driven erratically.

Constable Pollock told how he grabbed hold of Mr Murphy after he jumped out and tried to scale a shore wall. Dangling over the edge, the father of four lashed out until the officer let go, the inquest was told.

Mr Murphy made it at least 100 metres out.

He shouted back again that he was headed for Omeath, the inquest heard.

After the officer, who had gone waist-deep into the lough, realised he was in danger, contact was made with an incoming tanker’s captain who agreed to launch a life raft.

The coastguard and an RNLI crew were alerted, while two residents who watched the drama unfold paddled out in a failed attempt to reach Mr Murphy. Ann Hughes, whose house overlooks the Lough, joined neighbour Christopher O’Hare in his dinghy.

She told how Mr Murphy and his brother, who was standing on the shore, were calling out to each other amid the rescue attempts.

“The man in the water was shouting ‘It’s lovely in here, why don’t you come in and join me’,” she recalled.

“He said he was going to Omeath but it was in the wrong direction. He was heading towards the widest part of the lough, the shipping lane.”

The rowers got to within 30-40 yards of their target when his head slipped beneath the surface said Mr O’Hare. “We got to where he went under in about 30-40 seconds,” he said.

Their efforts drew special praise from coroner Suzanne Anderson who stressed they could not have done anything more.