Young passenger killed in drink drive crash

A controversial shock Northern Ireland TV road safety advertisement should be broadcast “again and again” a coroner said today at the inquest into the death of a car passenger killed in a drink driving crash.

Belfast coroner John Leckey said the accident in which William Walsh, 23, died in west Belfast was the “mirror image” of the British Department of Environment advertisement devised to cut down on speeding young drunk drivers.

Mr Walsh, of Glencolin Park in Poleglass outside Belfast, died when a VW Golf driven by fellow apprentice bricklayer Mark Monaghan crashed on the Shaws Road in the west of the city in the early hours Sunday December 2, 2001.

Two girls in the back of the car were injured, as was Mr Monaghan. None of them were wearing seatbelts.

The Director of Public Prosecutions decided no charges should be made, but coroner John Leckey said he was writing to the DPP asking him to review the decision after evidence emerged the driver had been more than two and a half times over the legal drink driving limit.

Mr Monaghan failed to attend the inquest as a witness and was represented by a solicitor who revealed he was out of the jurisdiction of the court, in Australia, where he was still being treated for the trauma of the crash.

He was too ill to return, said the solicitor.

The inquest was told that the four in the car had been to a party where Mr Monaghan had bottles of either beer or Smirnoff Ice in his hand all night.

A written statement from Karen Jameson, one of the girls in the back of the car, was read to the court in which she said after they all left the party: “Mark was flying down the motorway weaving from side to side. He was drunk and almost hit another car.”

Mr Leckey revealed that he had instigated inquiries at the City Hospital where Mr Monaghan was treated for his injuries and clinical notes documented that he was under the influence of alcohol.

A blood test had shown he was more than two and a half times over the drink driving limit.

Mr Leckey said: “I considered it important to find out whether there was evidence that the driver was intoxicated and the answer is yes he was, he was two and a half times over the legal limit for driving.

“The DPP was not aware of this information and I am going to write to the DPP and ask him to review the decision not to prosecute.”

The coroner said the crash was the mirror image of the DOE road safety advertisement which has been criticised when it was first show for being two graphic.

But he said: “Perhaps it should be shown again and again,” as a warning to others.

He recorded that Mr Walsh died from multiple injuries, including a fractured skull and 19 broken ribs, when the car hit a lamp post. He said Mr Walsh, though not driving, had been drunk and had traces of ecstasy and cannabis in his blood.

Mr Walsh’s father Michael, who attended the inquest, broke down in tears after hearing for the first time that the car driver had been drunk.