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Jail for drink driver who killed two

Susannah Wright
10/ 1/2008

FRIENDS and family of two men that died at the hands of a drink driver say they can finally start to rebuild their lives after their killer was jailed for four years.

Carl Denby and Ian McDonald were waiting at the central reservation of Kingsway in Didsbury when they were hit by a car driven by 21-year-old council worker Sarah Thomas.

Thomas fled the scene after telling a witness "I’m really drunk".

She handed herself in at Wythenshawe police station two hours later where tests showed that she was at least twice the drink drive limit and had been smoking cannabis.

This week Thomas, of Stretford, wept in the dock as she was sentenced - the day after Mr McDonald would have celebrated his 38th birthday.

After she was jailed for four years, his dad Robert McDonald said: "The sentencing goes some way to helping us move on, and stopping some of the hatred we had for her."

Ian, a keen cyclist and hiker who lived in Longsight, was planning on returning to a mechanics degree. He was waiting to cross the road when the tragedy occurred.

Upon hearing the news of Ian’s death his mother Ann McDonald had a heart attack.

After the hearing, family and friends paid tribute to both men.

They had not known each other but were united by having been in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Robert MacDonald, who lives in Rochdale, added: "Ian was a warm, caring man and a great friend, and I miss him terribly.

"He was very gifted and had a natural ability to fix cars. He loved writing short stories and poetry too, and was good at oil painting. He liked creating things that had a meditative feel about them."

He had five siblings, Marie, 36, Andrew, 35, Emma, 32, Damien, 23, and Sarah, 21, and six nieces and nephews.

Andrew, a father-of-two, had visited Ian three days before the accident on his brother’s 37th birthday.

He said: "I’m glad my last memory of him is of seeing him smiling.

"He was such a kind gentle guy and a good uncle, and he loved playing his nieces and nephews."

Andrew, an administrative officer at Manchester University, added: "He was everything an older brother should be, kind, supportive and always ready to help. I think over the years he must have mended every car I’ve owned.

"Mum’s been devastated by his death, and it seems so unfair that the driver will only serve four years. We all miss Ian so much."

Carl Denby, 25, had been living at a shared house on Osborne Road, Levenshulme. Two of his housemates, Jamie Dowie and Michael Doxford, both 24, met Carl in 2002 when they lived in Manchester Metropolitan University’s Broomhurst Halls of residence in Didsbury. Jamie, an IT recruitment officer, said: "Carl was a really fun guy, always up for a party and just a great friend.

"He got us all to chip in for a pool table for the house, so we had a lot of laughs having a few beers and playing games.

"He had a passion for films and had nearly 500 DVDs, and he was great at pub quizzes.

"He used to go to the gym at Parrs Wood complex loads too."

Carl had dropped out of his finance course at the MMU in 2005 early and began working full-time at Tesco.

On his nights off, the friends would often go to Hennigan’s Sports Bar in Levenshulme or Ye Olde Cock Inn in Didsbury.

Michael, a building society officer, said: "We miss him loads. He was a good mate and it’s taken a long time to come to terms with what happened.

"We lived together from being students. I had a great time with him. He would work as many shifts as he could to raise money because he loved to go travelling abroad.

"In 2005 he travelled with his family to the Dominican Republic and every year in December he would go Amsterdam with his mates from Blackpool for his birthday.

"We were meant to go skiing near Milan in February with another mate and it was weird being three of us instead of four. So we had a bottle of Champagne on the top of the mountain in memory of him."

Carl’s dad Terry Denby said he was still too upset to talk about the tragedy.

Carl leaves a mother, Denise, and a sister, Debbie, who both live in Blackpool.

At Manchester Crown Court, Judge Anthony Gee described the case as ‘tragic in every sense’.

He said: "A motor car can be a lethal weapon. It’s all too easy for a driver affected by alcohol and cannabis to lose control.

"The courts must send out a signal to those who may be minded to drive as you did." He sentenced her to four years in prison on each charge to run concurrently.

The court heard that Thomas had asked to borrow a phone from a witness after the crash telling her: "I’m going to say my car was stolen and all my friends to say I was with them."

Philip Dobson, for the prosecution, said that the witness urged her to stay at the scene, but she replied: "I’m really drunk".

Anna MacKenzie, for Thomas, said her client had made ‘the most horrific error of judgement’.

"She is keen to pass her heartfelt sorrow to the two families," she said.

Thomas pleaded guilty to two counts of causing death by dangerous driving with excess alcohol, and failure to stop at the scene of an accident.

Click on the video window for Channel M's report ...