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news
Statue of Justice, Old Bailey (licensed CC BY 2.0 on Flickr by Ronnie Macdonald).jpgFive years in jail for drugged and drunk hit-and-run driver who killed cyclist
A drugged and drunk hit-and-run driver who told police she had “hit a fox” after running over a cyclist in a hit and run crash in North Yorkshire, despite losing two tyres, a front bumper and smashing her windscreen, has been jailed for five years and two months.
Emma Moughan, aged 42, was three times over the drink-driving limit and 10 times over the limit for cocaine when she killed Patrick Hird on the A1041 in Camblesforth on the evening of 11 October last year, reports the Yorkshire Post.
Despite the windscreen of her Mercedes-Benz being smashed and the car’s front bumper ripped off in the crash, and with two of the vehicle’s tyres missing, she drove on to Selby, where she was stopped by police in the town centre.
The bumper was found at the scene of the crash, where there were tyre marks on the grass verge indicating that Moughan had veered to the left, and Mr Hird’s DNA was discovered on the roof of her car.
Moughan, who had been driving to her mother’s home after arguing with her partner and drinking and taking cocaine, told police that she thought she had run over a fox.
Mr Hird, aged 61, had lost his wife the previous year and was riding his e-bike to start a night shift at work when Moughan hit him. He was pronounced dead at the scene, having sustained fatal injuries to his head and spine.
Wearing hi-visibility clothing and with front and rear lights visible on his bike, it is estimated that he would have been visible to the motorist for 600 metres, or 20 seconds.
After the fatal crash, Moughan was captured on CCTV driving across mini roundabouts as well as crashing into a traffic island.
Six weeks later, she was discovered passed out on the back seat of a Fiat Punto which had been damaged in a crash with another vehicle, and was found to be over the drink-drive limit on that occasion as well.
Mr Hird was from a tight-knit family who all lived in the same village. In a victim impact statement read out in court, his sister Lorraine McCullough described how her mother had become withdrawn following his death.
“She struggled to do all of the things that Patrick used to do for her,” she wrote. “She used to be quite jolly, but she is now withdrawn and more frail.
“She has stopped seeing people and struggles with Sundays, as he died on a Sunday, Mum bought him the bike and I think she blames herself for what happened. She wakes up every morning at the time I came to tell her what had happened.
“Me and Patrick had been close since we were children, we always shared problems. Me and my husband looked after him after his wife passed away. We miss him terribly. It hasn't got any easier and we will never get over what happened,” she added.
Moughan pleaded guilty to causing death by dangerous driving, with her defence council saying in mitigation that she had “no excuses” for killing Mr Hird, and that in two years prior to the crash she had struggled with her mental health and had been in an abusive relationship.
Jailing her for five years and two months, Judge Simon Hickey said: “No sentence can do justice in the family's eyes. Patrick Hird was doing everything possible to make sure he could be seen. He was going about his business and I have no hesitation in finding he would have been easily visible for around 600 metres.
“Your Mercedes had reactive lights, the best available to a motor car,” the judge said. “On that straight road you can see for quite a distance. You were driving what was effectively a weapon and you were a danger to all road users.
“You could have hit anybody. You drove for seven miles and after you hit him you didn't stop. He had no chance. You claimed you had hit a fox but I doubt that you believed that.”
He acknowledged that Moughan, who has daughters aged 12 and 18, had led “a blameless life until it unravelled,” but added that the incident six weeks later “does temper your remorse” and “balances out your mitigation.”
He also banned her from driving for eight years and she will have to take an extended retest should she wish to regain her licence.
Simon joined road.cc as news editor in 2009 and is now the site’s community editor, acting as a link between the team producing the content and our readers. A law and languages graduate, published translator and former retail analyst, he has reported on issues as diverse as cycling-related court cases, anti-doping investigations, the latest developments in the bike industry and the sport’s biggest races. Now back in London full-time after 15 years living in Oxford and Cambridge, he loves cycling along the Thames but misses having his former riding buddy, Elodie the miniature schnauzer, in the basket in front of him.
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The small frame, the aggressive posture, lots of standover height.
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34 comments
It's exactly this kind of incident, which makes me want to not ride my bike.
I would like this kind of case to be used to change the status of a motor vehicle to a dangerous weapon.
I would like this kind of case to be used to change the status of holding a UK driving licence into a privilege to be upheld and not a right for life.
Although five years in prison sounds like a lot, I can't get my head around the fact that this is minimal in sentencing for the crimes committed. The message here is take a life and no matter how terrible of a person you are or how horrible a crime you commit we'll (the law) probably give you the minimum sentence and if we're feeling a bit grumpy tyhat morning, a stern talking to (!), because.. well accidents in cars happen all the time right.. and the prisons are pretty crowded so we don't really want to make that worse.
The law enforcement system for motons does not prevent crime.
Is it also a coincidence that her car had apparently 'veered far to the left','... straddling the grass verge' at the point of collision, following her documented online threats to elderly cyclists?
It is clear that she did not lead a blameless life previous to this incident, and should therefore have to be brought back to court for re-sentencing, taking into account her previous convictions and demonstrated anti-cyclist behaviour.
Amazing how many people charged with serious crime often apparently have "blameless lives" or were "never in trouble" before their first appearance in court...
If you do enough trawling you'll find out she is a waste of space since adulthood and probably before. Drugs and thugs.
Frightening to think you can take every precaution to stay alive and then you come across these sorts of people on the roads.
True - but actually you'll be just as dead if you're hit by a careful and considerate driver. Same as some bollards and bridges are trashed by "wrong'uns" but lots are bumped because driving a car is a tricky activity involving constant alertness and humans are very fallible in this regard.
Don't get me wrong, there are clearly plenty of people who are - if not malevolent - at least criminally unconcerned about others and should be disbarred from using vehicles on public health grounds. For me that's not sufficient to reduce the needless death on the roads. That will involve improvements in street design and engineering, improved training and more effective checks that drivers are still operating vehicles in a safe manner. Practice makes ... habit, after all.
That I think really is a coincidence. There appears to be two Emma Moughan's in the Selby area. The one you refer to with the existing drug conviction is a couple of years younger and has younger kids. They also once had an off-coloured egg mcmuffin - nasty!...
https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/4009652/dad-bites-into-mcdonalds-egg-muffi...
Thanks for that. Comment edited.
"Wearing hi-visibility clothing and with front and rear lights visible on his bike, it is estimated that he would have been visible to the motorist for 600 metres, or 20 seconds."
Maybe a case of the "moth effect"?
Is that "Oooo - look at the pretty lights!"
I think it only works if you are also high on cocaine.
That's only when you're driving that train.
Makes you wonder what you have to do to get the full 14 years?
Is it coincidence that when you Google her name - a Instagram account appears, in the first couple of results for a emmamoughan6677?
Is it coincidence that in that Instagram account there is a 'meme' of a crashed bus, making light of drink driving?
Is it coincidence that in that memes comments, is a thinly disguised comment giving insight in to the users opinion of cyclists?
Even further confirmed on the comments for the tour de Yorkshire?
Mercifully, there is no coincidence, of course; at least there's only one killer driver with that name.
Some prophetic comments from friends, too.
Good sleuthing, I bet that wasn't brought before the court, but it should have been. Clearly demonstrates a negligent attitude towards cyclists, if not a desire to cause harm.
I think you're right about that attitude, Hoarsemann.
If only her husband Paul had taken the keys off her that night. I suspect he didn't because, far from leading a blameless life, she was a habitual drink driver and illegal drug user.
Seems to me that she has some "issues" with drink and drugs, and probably needs help and support too. Prison may help with that? That being said, she should probably never be let behind the wheel of a motor vehicle ever again.
Disgusting fucking oxygen thief. My condolences to the Hird family.
Stupid question i know but does the driving ban begin when passed down by the court or at the point she leaves prison? Seems a bit stupid to issue a long ban when somebody can't drive in any case due to being in prison.
The law changed a few years ago. The ban starts after she leaves prison.
I thought I had read somewhere that although that change was passed through parliament, because a general election was called before it was finished it didn't happen so it would have to start again
no it was set in the Criminal Justice Courts Act 2015, section 30, which received Royal assent before the general election had been called, the date which it applied from was after that parliamentary session finished because of the general election, but it is current law afaik.
I was googling for the sentencing guidelines and came across an interesting snippet
"At the time of writing, the maximum penalty for causing death by dangerous driving is 14 years in prison. However, the government is seeking to increase the maximum penalty to life imprisonment. This legal reform is included in the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill 2021"
Probably about the only good thing in that bill.
Yes... but they could increase the maximum to transportation to Mars and I doubt that would make much difference in the majority - or maybe any - cases:
The judge is saying the right words. The sentence is - in the range of these things - more serious. (Although outside of the parallel universe of driving law ridiculous, given the maximum is supposed to be 14 years - we've got driving a motor in an illegal condition, drink, drugs, failure to stop and repeating the offence.) But is there any possibility that this person won't ignore the driving ban? Given that they already appear to have been continuing with reckless illegal driving after the first incident?
Genuine question - what's the provision for recall to prison if once she's out (should be 2 to 3 years, no?) she's found driving again? I'd have thought that would be breaking the conditions of any release, no?
And has it every happened?
Again I'm less concerned about the "just deserts" and more with "harm minimisation" for the rest of us - because this person was clearly wildly out of control at the time and I doubt would give a stuff about further warnings not to drive, or a fine.
Ten times over the limit for cocaine! Why is there any limit for cocaine?
Minimum amount to show reliably in lab tests
It's on most of our money, gets absorbed through the skin, traces could be found in most of us.
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