‘Reckless’ driver jailed for killing pensioners on A27 after six pints
A ‘reckless’ driver who drank at least six pints of strong lager before killing two women on the A27 and seriously injuring another has been jailed.
‘Drunk’ Ryan Dowling, 29, of Woolmer Street, Emsworth, was refused any more pints of Stella Artois in the Heron pub, Leigh Park, after ‘having enough’ and for ‘arguing’ with staff before he got behind the wheel of his Ford Focus and drove at ‘excessive speed’.
Portsmouth Crown Court heard how Dowling, now jailed for more than eight years, was weaving in and out of cars performing ‘dangerous’ manoeuvres close to the back of drivers on the A27 before ‘flying past’ them around 10pm on February 27 last year.
But after a number of near misses with other motorists, a group of friends travelling home to Chichester after enjoying a classical concert at Portsmouth Guildhall were hit in the back by Dowling’s car.
The five pensioners travelling in a Renault Zoe were suddenly thrust into by Dowling’s Ford with such force the back of the Renault was totally ‘destroyed’, with severe damage caused to the back seats where the three ladies were sitting.
Gillian Casey, 75, and 80-year-old Elizabeth Wales, known as Anne Wales, were both killed in the crash near Woodmancote.
The speed limit on the road was 70mph and it was concluded by investigators Dowling was driving ‘well in excess’ of that – with other drivers estimating he was travelling at around 100mph.
The court was told of the ‘devastating’ impact on the families of the ‘sudden and horrific’ loss of Mrs Casey and Mrs Wales – both pillars of the community who ‘would do anything for anyone’.
Dowling pleaded guilty to two charges of causing death by dangerous driving and one of causing serious injury by dangerous driving.
Jailing him for eight and a half years, judge Timothy Mousley QC said: “Your driving was dangerous and reckless. You deliberately chose to drive in the way you did.
“(The husbands of Mrs Wales and Mrs Casey) have to live with the horrific memory of what happened.”
Dowling was also previously banned from driving for two and a half years but the judge extended this by another four years.