Wednesbury fatal crash driver 'was over the drink-drive limit'

Ms May Winn was near the middle of Park Hill, in Wednesbury, when hit by the Vauxhall Combo with 26-year-old Luke Holyhead at the wheel around 6.40pm on November 28 2017, Wolverhampton Crown Court was told.

Experts agreed the victim was crossing at an angle away from the oncoming vehicle with her back partially towards it but should have been conspicuous to the driver, said Mr Nicholas Tatlow, prosecuting.

The van was estimated to have been travelling at around the 30mph limit on the road that has speed bumps and had just pulled out to overtake a parked vehicle when tragedy struck.

Eye witnesses said the defendant was shaking and smelt of alcohol when he got out of the vehicle which had a significant dent in the bonnet and a smashed windscreen following the impact.

Almost 90 minutes after the crash, he blew a reading of 71 micrograms of alcohol in 100 millilitres of breath. The legal limit is 35.

Mr Tatlow declared: "The way he drove was below the standard expected by a confident and careful driver. He does not dispute the reading."

Holyhead said he had drunk no more than three cans of Strongbow cider between 2pm and 3.30pm and nothing after that.

But Neville Iles, an expert in the effects of drink-driving who checked the likelihood of this, said the motorist must have consumed 'significantly' more alcohol because the reading would have been between zero and 21 if the claim was correct.

He continued: "This must cast doubt on the accuracy of the account of the alcohol consumption over the period in question."

He estimated the reading would have been 83 with a range of between 77 and 90 when the fatality happened.

Mr Iles concluded: "This would produce a significant level of intoxication."

The defendant, who stopped at the scene and has no previous convictions, maintains he was driving with the necessary amount of care and attention.

Jack Woodcock, who was travelling behind Holyhead at the time and spoke to him immediately afterwards, said in an uncontested statement read to the court:

"He was really shocked and shaking. He told me: 'I don't know what happened. I just heard a bang.' I asked him: 'Are you local?' He said: 'Of course. If I wasn't I would have driven off.'"

Miss Winn, described by a relative as being in excellent health for her age, suffered devastating blunt force head and chest injuries and died later that day in hospital. Cause of death was given as multiple traumatic injuries.

Holyhead, from Rachael Gardens, Wednesbury, pleads not guilty to causing her death by careless driving while over the prescribed drink-drive limit and the case continues.