'Pillar of community' jailed for hit-and-run killing of joyrider

Published on Friday 18 September 2009 22:06

TWO men have been jailed over the death of a man thrown from a stolen car in a crash and then hit by another vehicle.

Patrick Gilheaney, 27, was on a drunken 400-mile joyride from Lancashire to Skye, where he was driving at up to 100mph when he crashed into another car.

His passenger Derek Maxwell, 36, was thrown on to the road and, as he struggled to find his feet, was hit by a Land Rover Freelander and killed.

The Freelander driver, boatbuilder Allan Edmunds, 54, did not stop and spent two days trying to cover up his involvement.

At the High Court in Edinburgh yesterday, Gilheaney was jailed for three years and Edmunds, of Breakish, Skye, for two years and three months.

Lord Brailsford told Gilheaney that his driving had been "quite shocking", adding: "As a direct result of your actions, the accident that led to this most tragic death occurred."

The judge said sentencing Edmunds was the most difficult he had experienced for a motoring offence. But it was a serious piece of careless driving, and his attempt to avoid blame had been "reprehensible".

"Having got yourself in a hole, you dug deeper and deeper. You are well-respected, well-liked and thought of highly in the community. It is a matter of considerable regret you are standing before me today," he said.

Gilheaney, of Lancashire, stole his girlfriend's mother's car, a Seat Ibiza, on 24 August last year and he and his nephew, Joseph Gilheaney, and Mr Maxwell decided to drive to Skye. Mr Maxwell was originally from Scotland. The men drank beer and vodka on the way.

On the Skye Bridge, at 10:30pm, Gilheaney told the others to "stop being pussies" and drove deliberately on the wrong side of the carriageway at about 80mph. He swerved away from an oncoming car just before they would have collided.

Then, near the village of Kyleakin, he reached 100mph after again crossing on to the wrong side of the road.

A motorist travelling in the opposite direction saw the headlights coming towards him and pulled on to a grass verge to try to get out of the way of the Seat, but it struck his car, somersaulted and landed back on its wheels.

Mr Maxwell had been drunk and asleep in the rear of the Seat. He was not wearing a seatbelt, and he was thrown through a window. He was on his knees, trying to get up, when the Freelander came round a bend and drove through the crash scene, glancing off the Seat and hitting Mr Maxwell.

He was dragged about five metres along the road, but the Freelander did not stop.

Edmunds had been out for a meal, and had had a gin and tonic and two glasses of wine. He hid his vehicle and tried to repair damage by using parts from another Freelander he owned. He also sent documentation to DVLA pretending he had sold the vehicle.

Gilheaney pleaded guilty to car theft and two charges of dangerous driving while under the influence of alcohol. Edmunds admitted having caused the death of Mr Maxwell by careless driving after consuming alcohol, and attempting to pervert the course of justice.

Richard Goddard, solicitor-advocate for Edmunds, said his client had been in a state of shock and disbelief after the accident, and his subsequent behaviour had been irrational.

He said: "It was doomed to failure. As soon as the police saw him, he tried all in his power to put things right."

Lord Brailsford banned Gilheaney from driving for ten years, and Edmunds for three.