Meet the idiots who should have just ordered an Uber home

13/10/2024

It would never have happened if they just ordered an Uber home.

Week after week, people across Manchester find themselves in the dock because of their reckless decision to get behind the wheel after a skinful.

And their foolish decision to do so often leads to disastrous consequences – putting themselves and members of the public at risk.

Despite the obvious dangers of getting behind the wheel while under the influence, drink driving is one of the most common cases to be heard in the magistrates courts.

And where serious injury or even death is caused as a result, drivers can face being locked up.

Here we document some of the most recent cases of drink driving and driving without due care and attention to be heard in Manchester’s courts. The cases include a drink driver who left another motorist seriously injured, a lawyer caught while filling up his car and a woman who works for a charity helping drink and drug addicts.

Joseph Dearden

Joseph Dearden (Image: gmp)

Police body-cam footage captured the moment a brazen drink-driver who left another motorist severely injured told cops: “All I have to do is play the mental health card!”

The footage shows Joseph Dearden slurring and struggling to remain upright after causing a horrific smash on a residential road in Bolton ^[2], following a boozy pub session in which he downed six pints of lager and five shots.

He appears unconcerned that he had left one man, 25, with life-changing injuries, slurring to the cops who arrested him: “All I have to do is play the mental health card!”

The sozzled driver refused to get into an ambulance.

Dearden, 27, from Bolton, managed to get out of his smashed van and attempted to flee the scene only to be detained by shocked residents who came out and saw a scene of carnage. Other footage released by Greater Manchester Police ^[3] revealed the speed at which he was travelling and also the wreckage he caused in the crash.

He was jailed for what police described as ‘callous and cowardly’ behaviour.

In April last year, Dearden appeared at Bolton Crown Court where he was sentenced to two-and-a-half years after he had pleaded guilty to causing serious injury by dangerous driving and driving whilst unfit through drink.

Geoffrey Underhill

Geoffrey Underhill (Image: Cavendish Press (Manchester) Ltd)

A lawyer was caught drink driving after he decided to fill his £60,000 Audi Q7 with fuel after drinking two glasses of wine. Geoffrey Underhill had a police ‘marker’ placed on his car after he previously confessed to enjoying a pint of lager shandy after work, a court heard.

The 56-year-old had been pulled over seven times in one week after he was placed on a ‘drink driver’ watchlist following a local authority ‘safeguarding’ investigation over arguments at home. He was placed on the list after admitting to routinely having one drink of 75 per cent lager and 25 per cent lemonade on his way home from the office.

When a police officer breathalysed him at Lymm Services on the M6 in Cheshire on March 23, Underhill tested one and a half times over the alcohol limit, Warrington magistrates court heard last month. The incident occurred at 3am when the policewoman, known only as PC Jones, was driving along the M56 near Warrington.

Underhill pleaded guilty to drink driving and was fined £3,115, ordered to pay £1,866 in costs and was banned from driving for 12 months. JPs agreed to suspend the disqualification pending an appeal against the sentence.

Eliza Loftus

Eliza Loftus (Image: Eliza Loftus/ Cavendish Press (M)

A woman at the top of a charity which helps drink and drug addicts is now seeking their help herself after being collared for drink driving yet again.

Eliza Loftus, 26, was hauled to court after she crashed her Ford Ka in a tree while on her way home from a night out. A roadside drug test revealed she was almost three times over the alcohol limit, just a year after she completed a 12 month road ban for other drink and drug driving offences.

Loftus was caught emerging from a bush saying ‘I’m sorry’ after police arrived in the scene on April 7 of this year. Inquiries revealed she had previously been convicted of drink driving in April 2022 and just a month later was found guilty of driving whilst under the influence of cannabis.

At Crewe magistrates court earlier this month, Loftus, from Middlewich, Cheshire admitted drink driving and was banned from the roads for 40 months. She is now getting help for mental health issues from the Be Well Stay Well charity of which she has been marketing director and chief fund raiser since 2022.

Geodie Curran

Geodie Curran (Image: Cavendish Press (Manchester) Ltd)

A woman who had only just got her licence back after a drink driving ban was spared a second disqualification – despite fleeing the scene of a 1am smash. Geodie Curran, 24, had dropped off a friend at Manchester Airport ^[4] before she was ‘involved in an argument’ with a man in her car.

She then ploughed into a set of railings – but decided to dump her Vauxhall Corsa and ran off, a court heard. Police who later caught up with her at home discovered Curran had only been allowed back on the roads three weeks earlier after she completed a 14 month ban for failing to provide a breath specimen. She had also completed an alcohol treatment programme and had a string of previous convictions.

But when quizzed, Curran said she had crashed by accident during an argument with an unnamed male passenger and ran off in a ‘panic’ as she only had third party insurance. It is not known whether she was breathalysed.

At Warrington magistrates court last month, Curran, who pleaded guilty to driving without due care and attention and failing to stop after an accident, faced a ban of up to six months. But she was given eight points on her licence and fined £40 and £101 in costs. A charge of failing to report the accident was withdrawn.

References

^{^} Threats against top lawyer, prison attacks and a brutal killing – the extraordinary traffic lights murder trial (www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk)
^{^} Bolton (www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk)
^{^} Greater Manchester Police (www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk)
^{^} Manchester Airport (www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk)