Jury fails to reach car death verdict

A JURY has failed to reach a verdict in the trial of a 25-year-old Dublin mother charged with murdering a father-of-four by crushing him with her car.

Claire Nolan, of Sheephill Green, Blanchardstown, drove into Michael Duffy and crushed him against his son’s house on January 26, 2008. She told gardaí she meant to knock down the 66-year-old’s son, Francis Duffy.

Nolan pleaded not guilty to murdering the taxi driver in this son’s driveway on Wellview Grove, Blanchardstown, but pleaded guilty to his manslaughter. The prosecution did not accept her plea and she went on trial at the Central Criminal Court last week.