Irishman killed with pregnant wife after police dash
Newlyweds mistaken for burglars by London police
A PREGNANT bride and her new Irish husband – who were killed in a highspeed chase by UK police – were innocent motorists mistaken for burglars, it emerged last night.
Patrick McDonagh, 19, originally from Maynooth, Co. Kildare, and his wife Shauna, 18, were chased for ten minutes by nine cars and a helicopter after three victims were robbed at knifepoint.
The couple, who married 11 weeks ago and were expecting their first child in April, were fatally injured when their car crashed through barriers on the A40 and ploughed into a coach in Harrow, northwest London.
They and their unborn child died at the scene after the vehicle burst into flames. Another man in their silver Renault Megane was taken to hospital after the crash, which happened at around 9pm on Sunday.
Police had abandoned the chase moments earlier when the Renault drove into the opposite carriageway because it was deemed too dangerous to continue.
Scotland Yard faced questions yesterday after it emerged that the couple had a ‘cast-iron alibi’ and were nowhere near the burglary scene in Pinner, north-west London, at the time.
The UK police watchdog, the Independent Office for Police Conduct, said CCTV showed the crash victims were elsewhere at the time of the raid.
The McDonaghs had shared the news that they were expecting a baby on Facebook, posting a video of a pink teddy with the caption: ‘It’s a girl.’
After their deaths, Ms McDonagh’s sister Bridgie Mongan wrote online: ‘Why God did you have to do this? They was the most happy couple going.’
Mr McDonagh’s sister LexiRose Lawrence said they had planned to call their child Sienna. ‘You were so good-hearted [you] would do anything for anyone,’ she wrote in tribute.
A family member told the London Evening Standard: ‘They were a very close couple, always together, seemed very happy, madly in love. Their families will never get over their deaths.’
The chase began after police were called to an aggravated burglary. Four men with a knife and screwdriver threatened to kill two other men – one in his 30s, the other in his 60s – and a woman in her 50s if they did not hand over their valuables. After a 20minute ordeal, one of the burglars punched the younger man in the face before the gang fled with cash and jewellery.
A spokesman for the UK’s Independent Office for Police Conduct said: ‘The IOPC will examine the information the police had and the rationale for the pursuit.’
‘The families will never get over it’