Criminals who got drunk and made terrible decisions

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[1], 24, was the driver of an Audi A1 that crashed into a Fiat 500 on Coastal Drive, in New Brighton[2], 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. The court heard she had been drinking in The Lighthouse pub in Wallasey[3] 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. 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.

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."

References

1. ^ Gabrielle Dures (www.liverpoolecho.co.uk)
2. ^ New Brighton (www.liverpoolecho.co.uk)
3. ^ Wallasey (www.liverpoolecho.co.uk)
4. ^ Upton (www.liverpoolecho.co.uk)