Former IDB chairman Sir Eric Wallace McDowell dies aged 92
A WOMAN who was driving at twice the speed limit with a young child in her vehicle claimed she was late for a parent-teacher meeting.
Paula Millen (36), of Shanlongford Road, Ringsend, Coleraine, was detected at Ardreagh Road in the Aghadowey area in June this year.
She appeared at Coleraine Magistrates Court yesterday and admitted driving with excess speed.
A prosecutor said police observed the defendant on June 13 doing 80mph in a 60mph zone, and as she entered the 30mph area she was doing 60mph.
The mother-of-two told police she was “so stupid”.
A defence lawyer said his client was sorry and said she had been late for her son’s parent-teacher meeting.
District Judge Liam McNally noted the defendant had a young child in the car as she was “hurtling” through a 30mph zone at twice the limit.
He told her: “This was a very bad speed, you were going at double the speed limit.”
He added: “That is the equivalent of driving at 120mph in a 60mph.” He said he was taking into account her clear record and guilty plea as he gave her six penalty points and fined her £200. THE death has been announced of Sir Eric Wallace McDowell, former chairman of the Industrial Development Board in Northern Ireland.
A chartered accountant by profession, he became a CBE in 1982, and was knighted in the 1990 New Year Honours list.
He was also a past president of Chartered Accountants Ireland, and had close links with the Abbeyfield Society and Relate.
Sir Eric died in Nazareth House Care Village, Belfast, on Thursday. He was 92. A service of thanksgiving for his life is to be held in Malone Presbyterian Church on Tuesday, August 15, at 11.30am.
A notice in today’s Belfast Telegraph said Sir Eric would be “sadly missed by his wife Helen, daughters Jay and Claire, son Martin, daughter-in-law Debbie, son-in-law Nigel, and grandchildren Mark, Jonathan, Andrew, Jamie, Alix and Krissy”.
Chartered Accountants Ireland expressed its deepest sympathies to past president Sir Eric’s family circle and friends.