Northern Ireland

Man who killed two women in Co Mayo crash jailed for separate Co Antrim collision

Paul Patrick Duffy (37) from Dunloy, Co Antrim, was jailed for four months at Coleraine Magistrates Court for a serious crash. Picture by Mark Jamieson
Paul Patrick Duffy (37) from Dunloy, Co Antrim, was jailed for four months at Coleraine Magistrates Court for a serious crash. Picture by Mark Jamieson Paul Patrick Duffy (37) from Dunloy, Co Antrim, was jailed for four months at Coleraine Magistrates Court for a serious crash. Picture by Mark Jamieson

A MAN who killed two women in a road accident in Co Mayo twelve years ago has been jailed for a separate crash in Co Antrim.

Paul Patrick Duffy (37), of Hillside Drive in Dunloy, Co Antrim, was jailed for four months at Coleraine Magistrates' Court yesterday after he hit another car while on the wrong side of the road without lights last month.

The court heard that Duffy had taken "one or two drinks" before the accident at midnight on September 4 on Bellaghy Road in Dunloy. After he hit the other car, he tried to escape but crashed.

Police tried and failed to get a breath sample five times at the scene and again at Coleraine police station.

Duffy, a father of four, appeared in court after pleading guilty to dangerous driving, failing to remain at the scene of an an accident and failing to report an accident.

He also admitted to failing to give a preliminary sample of breath and failing to provide a specimen of breath.

District Judge Liam McNally told him he could have killed either himself or someone else in the crash.

Duffy was released on his own bail of £500 pending appeal.

In 2005, Duffy, who then had an address in Westport, Co Mayo, was an unaccompanied learner driver when he killed a mother-of-eight and her aunt while overtaking on the N5 near Castlebar.

He later pleaded guilty to dangerous driving causing the deaths of the pair. He was given a suspended jail term and was banned from driving for ten years.

Sentencing Duffy yesterday, Judge McNally said: "You go out onto a road whilst under the influence of alcohol; you drive dangerously on the wrong side of the road with no lights on. You collide with another vehicle, you try to make good your escape and hit a pole. When arrested you refuse to co-operate".

"Quite frankly, you could have killed either yourself or anyone else on the road," he said.

Duffy was banned from driving for two years and will have to pass an extended driving test before being allowed back on the road.

He was also fined £100.