Death driver facing ‘many years’ in jail for killing mum of three in crash

Defendant one of three men to admit moving victim’s body from scene of horror accident

A GRIEVING mother looked on in court yesterday as a banned driver admitted causing her daughter’s death by careless driving while unfit.

Steven Cunningham is one of three men to admit moving Charlotte Mchugh from the scene of a crash.

Her body was discovered at a property in Dundonald after an ambulance was called to the address.

Cunningham, whose address is subject to reporting restrictions because of a death threat, was warned he was “going to jail for many years”.

The 28-year-old was due to go on trial at Downpatrick Crown Court but, following discussions between the prosecution and defence, he was rearraigned on eight of the dozen charges against him.

He admitted causing the death of Charlotte Mchugh by driving carelessly on the Comber Road in Dundonald and while unfit through drink or drugs on June 1, 2021.

Cunningham also entered guilty pleas to driving dangerously on the Old Dundonald Road, driving while disqualified, possessing the class C drugs pregabalin and diazepam, driving without insurance, and perverting the course of justice by removing Ms Mchugh from the scene of the crash.

Following the confession, defence KC Brian Mccartney asked for sentencing to be adjourned to allow time for his team to obtain a pre-sentence probation report and a psychiatric report.

He applied for Cunningham to be granted bail, submitting he had not committed similar offences in the 14 months he had been free and that his temporary release would facilitate the reports easier than if he was in custody.

But Judge Geoffrey Miller KC told the barrister his client was “facing a substantial sentence of immediate custody”.

Expressing the court’s sympathy to Ms Mchugh’s mother, the judge said Cunningham had committed “these dreadful offences while on bail for driving while disqualified and associated offences, and I believe I would be abrogating my responsibilities if I were to readmit him to bail [when] he knows with certainty that he is going to prison for many years”.

Earlier, Karl O’neill (39) and 35-year-old Thomas Reynolds, whose addresses are also subject to reporting restrictions, entered guilty pleas to assisting an offender.

O’neill admitted moving Ms Mchugh from the scene of the collision, and Reynolds admitted helping to remove her body from the vehicle to an address in Dundonald.

At an earlier court, 33-year-old Tanya Galway admitted assisting offenders.

Adrian Aitken (34) is before the courts on two counts of perverting the course of justice.

All defendants were charged following the death of Ms Mchugh on June 1, 2021.

The police received a call at 4.30am that day about a collision involving a black BMW on the Comber Road in Dundonald. By the time officers arrived, the occupants of the car had fled.

The ambulance service contacted the police a short time later to say paramedics had been called to an address in Dundonald where the body of Ms Mchugh, a 27-year-old mother-of-three, was found.

None of the facts surrounding the charges were opened in court yesterday.

Freeing O’neill and Reynolds on bail pending the completion of pre-sentence reports, Judge Miller warned them they faced prison sentences for offences “for which they should hang their heads in shame”.

‘These are offences for which the defendants should hang their heads in shame’