‘Lethal menace’ drink and drug driver who ploughed into pedestrian at ‘excessive speed’ on Portsmouth road is jailed

Danny Conaghan, of Sywell Crescent, Portsmouth, killed ‘warm-hearted’ 55-year-old Sharon Randall, known as Polly, in a horror crash on Winston Churchill Avenue on August 3, 2021. The ‘illuminated’ pedestrian was struck by the Vauxhall Corsa the 34-year-old was driving while he was nearly eight times the drug-drive limit with cocaine and nearly twice the drink-drive limit, Portsmouth Crown Court heard.

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The court heard Conaghan was ‘straddling’ the side of the eastbound carriageway bus lane approaching a pedestrian crossing when he smashed into the victim and only applied the brakes six-and-a-half seconds after impact. Forensic collision investigators estimated he was speeding at 40mph and 46mph in the 30mph road at the time of impact - sending Ms Randall flying through the air before she came to rest 28 metres from the point of impact.

Judge Michael Bowes KC said: ‘The combination of alcohol and cocaine rendered you wholly unfit to drive and made you a lethal menace. Drink and drugs is the leading contributory factor as to why you failed to see Polly Randall in the road and failed to react.

‘You drove at excessive speed while heavily intoxicated with alcohol and cocaine and took Polly Randall’s life. She lost her life because of your highly dangerous driving.’

The court heard that Conaghan stopped further down the road after the crash with horrified witnesses shouting at him. ‘I saw a person get out of the car and look back for a split second before getting back in and heading towards the roundabout. I was shouting, “Come here”, but the driver just looked at us,’ one witness said.

Moments after the crash, Conaghan and a female passenger were seen close to the scene on foot where Ms Randall was before leaving the area. Police found him parked around the corner from the incident where he admitted he had been driving. After a breath test showed a reading of 74mcg - with the limit 35mcg - he said: ‘I only had two.’ A drug test showed a reading of 384mcg per litre when the limit is 50mcg.

Ms Randall was pronounced dead at the scene around 10pm after suffering massive head injuries.

Family members said Ms Randall was ‘warm hearted’ and ‘kind’ with her death having a massive impact on her family. The court heard Ms Randall’s partner, who suffered from kidney failure, died a week after her funeral.

The defendant who had a ‘very bad driving record’ with a number of previous offences said he would ‘never forgive myself’ and was ‘very sorry’.

He was jailed for six years and nine months and banned from driving for 10 years after pleading guilty to causing death by dangerous driving.

Police sergeant Jonathan Bates, of the Joint Operations Roads Policing Unit, said: ‘Conaghan selfishly got behind the wheel of a car when he was drunk and on drugs. He did not care that this put other people at risk.

‘Mrs Randall was an innocent pedestrian and her family has been devastated by this tragic loss of life. If Conaghan had not been driving that night after drinking and taking drugs then she would still be alive.’

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