Speeding Audi driver ploughed head-on into Fiat as terrified passengers begged her to slow down

Gabrielle Dures' terrified passengers begged her slow down in the moments before the crash

20:49, 05 Feb 2025Updated 21:26, 05 Feb 2025

A drink driver crashed her Audi head-on into another car at twice the speed limit, leaving a woman with life-changing injuries and several others hurt. A court heard Gabrielle Dures, 24, was the driver of an Audi A1 that crashed into a Fiat 500 on Coastal Drive, in New Brighton[1], on the evening of Sunday, May 28 2023.

Dures, who had been drinking shots, sped along as her panicking passengers begged her to slow down. She ignored their pleas and ploughed into the Fiat at 63mph causing serious injuries to occupants of both wrecked vehicles.

Jailing Dures, now a trainee pharmacist, Judge David Potter told Liverpool Crown Court that whether she may have wanted to show off to her new friends in the back of her car "did not matter", but what did matter was her panicking passengers telling her to slow down.

Her lawyer John Weate had told the court that Dures, then 22, had only been discharged by her hospital consultant three weeks earlier after seven years of radiotherapy for a rare form of brain tumour and had been advised "to go out and enjoy her life and that is what she intended to do".

He continued: "She had had a restricted social life until that point.

She went out to make new friends. She wanted to socialise and wanted to move on with her life."

The court heard she had been drinking in The Lighthouse pub in Wallasey[2] on the evening of the crash with her friend Megan Findlay. They and three new friends decided to move to the James Atherton pub in New Brighton.

She was captured on CCTV in the car park leaving the first pub at 9.30pm with a glass in her hand which she drained and then tossed aside.

She got into her grey Audi A1 with Ms Findlay in the front and Stevie Garrity, Sophie Ford and Renee Hunt in the back seat.

Prosecutor Holly Menary said: "She assured them she was fine to drive and would drive them to the next bar. Ms Findlay asked if she was okay and she assured her she was and Ms Garrity suggested getting a taxi. But she repeated she was okay."

The footage showed the car travelling at speed to the exit, making Ms Ford say "whoa".

Dures then turned right and headed towards Coastal Drive at increasing speed.

Ms Ford and Ms Garrity had not put their seat belts on, but increasingly afraid, Ms Ford managed to do so, though Ms Garrity did not do it in time. As the Fiat, which was approaching in the opposite direction, passed a parked camper van the Audi smashed into it head on.

The road has a 30mph limit and the driver of the Fiat, Kiera Ord, believed she was safe to overtake as the Audi was some distance away. Realising it was making ground fast, she braked as hard as she could, but it was then the collision occurred.

Passers-by rushed to help, including Joseph Thurlow, whose speedy first aid Judge David Potter credited with saving Ms Garrity from bleeding to death.

Police arrived at the scene after five minutes and found Dures slurring her words and eyes glazed. She denied she had been drinking but expressed concern for the passengers in both vehicles.

She was taken to hospital where a blood test revealed she was almost one and a half times over the drink driving limit with 114 micrograms of alcohol per 100 millilitres of blood, the legal limit being 80mg.

The court heard the person most seriously injured was Ms Garrity, now 25, whose right arm was so badly injured she nearly had to have it amputated. She also suffered a fractured leg and two spinal fractures.

Reading out a harrowing impact statement to the crowded courtroom, Ms Garrity told how her whole life has been devastated.

She said she had been "confident, hard working, smiley, organised and had a plan for her future", but that her life had been dramatically changed forever that fateful night and that she is "grieving the person I once was."

Ms Garrity told the court she had had four, six hour operations and faces two more. She said: "The first operation was to save my life", explaining she was haemorrhaging from the artery in her arm.

Ms Garrity, whose hand and arm remains in a compression bandage and splints, told how she still has chronic permanent nerve pain. She said she has been unable to work at job she loved as a business performance and planning officer with the National Autistic Society, or at her part time pub job.

Miss Menary said Ria Islam, who was the front seat passenger in the Fiat had had to have two metal rods inserted in her broken back and was in pain all over her body.

In her impact statement Ms Islam told how she had been unable to get out of the wreckage and thought she was going to die.

Ms Findlay had injuries to her left thigh, while Ms Hunt, a student midwife, suffered a fractured spine and bleeding to her liver. Ms Ford had tenderness to her neck and Ms Ord had a fractured right wrist which required surgery and physiotherapy. She told how she is still in "immense pain" and her life has changed completely.

Dures pleaded guilty to four offences of causing serious injury by dangerous driving.

She dabbed away tears during the hearing and Mr Weate said that she is supported by her family and friends and has done charitable work for the homeless and Alder Hey Children's Hospital[3], where she was treated for her brain tumour.

He said she pleaded guilty at the first opportunity as she had not wanted the victims "to even have to contemplate giving evidence." He read a statement from the defendant who said she wanted to express her "deepest remorse" for the accident and the pain and suffering it has caused to the victims and their families.

She said: "Not a day has gone by since that night that I have not thought about the consequences of my actions and the ongoing suffering faced by all involved due to an error of judgement on my behalf.

"I take full responsibility and accountability for the events that unfolded that night .....On the evening of May 28 I never intentionally set out to cause any harm however I fully recognise that my actions have had devastating consequences. My decision making that night was a terrible mistake and one that was completely out of character for me.

"I can only imagine the grief and distress that the girls and their families are experiencing and continue to experience and for that I am whole heartedly sorry." Dures said that her actions that night "will weigh heavy on me for the rest of my life and this is something that I have accepted as part of my punishment."

Mr Weate said that she was a student teacher at the time of the crash, which followed "intoxication and bravado, maybe to impress her new friends" but has had to give up that planned career and is now a trainee pharmacist.

He told the court she suffered two broken ribs in the crash and a fractured wrist for which she needed surgery. She has also suffered mentally and rarely sleeps and has nightmares.

Judge Potter jailed Dures, of Kirkway, in Upton[4], for two years and eight months and banned her from the road for 31 months.

Passing sentence he told her: "I have no doubt you feel remorse, shame and guilty for your actions. You have not sought to blame anyone else for the terrible decision you, and you alone, made that night."

At an earlier magistrates court hearing she admitted driving with excess alcohol and was fined GBP253 and ordered to pay GBP221 in costs and surcharge. She was also banned from driving for 14 months which expires next week.

Aftermath Support is the North West Charity for those affected by serious road incidents.

For further information, help or support call 0151 777 2562 or e-mail: [email protected].

References

1. ^ New Brighton (www.liverpoolecho.co.uk)
2. ^ Wallasey (www.liverpoolecho.co.uk)
3. ^ Alder Hey Children's Hospital (www.liverpoolecho.co.uk)
4. ^ Upton (www.liverpoolecho.co.uk)