A woman repeatedly drove over a man who had fallen into the road before branding him a ‘smackhead’. Personal trainer Megan Murphy, 26, failed to properly clear ice from her windscreen in the early hours of January 9 last year before travelling the wrong way down a one-way street near her previous address in Marsh Green, Wigan.
Darryl Tomlinson, 31, who lived around the corner from Murphy, had slumped to the ground following a night out drinking with mates. Murphy struck him with her vehicle, reversed and ran him over once more.
Straight afterwards, she declared ‘I didn’t see him’, before telling a mate she had just ‘reversed over him’. A court heard she branded Mr Tomlinson a ‘smackhead’ while he remained trapped beneath her car, reports the Manchester Evening News.
Local residents dialled 999 after discovering Mr Tomlinson, but ‘in an awful twist of fate’, neither officers nor ambulance crews ‘could find the patient and never attended the scene’. He died in the road.
Murphy, now of Lord Street, Ince, appeared for sentencing at Bolton Crown Court on Tuesday (June 23), having previously pleaded guilty to causing death by dangerous driving. She will learn her fate on Wednesday (June 24).
Setting out the circumstances of the case, Rob Hall explained that at the time of the incident, Murphy resided on Kitt Green Road, Marsh Green. She had a ‘routine’ of backing out of an access lane before travelling the wrong way down one-way Pembroke Road and turning onto Kitt Green Lane.
She had been spotted by neighbours performing the manoeuvre repeatedly over the course of a year. “It would seem she ignored the rules of the road to save herself time by avoiding driving around the housing estate,” Mr Hall said.
The evening before the early hours incident, Mr Tomlinson had been at a mate’s for drinks while watching football. He left with a friend, went to another person’s flat then took a taxi to a petrol station for more alcohol.
They returned to the Kitt Green Road flat, not far from Mr Tomlinson’s home on Comet Road, and carried on drinking. The court heard there was a Met Office yellow warning for snow and ice in force from 3am on January 9.
Mr Tomlinson, said to have been intoxicated and having been ‘likely to have taken cocaine and cannabis’ departed his mate’s flat.
“Mr Tomlinson was able to use the toilet and walk down the stairs unaided, so his friends thought nothing of his ability to get himself from the flat to his home, a walk of 500 metres,” Mr Hall said.
He was captured on CCTV staggering. Mr Tomlinson collapsed outside a house on Pembroke Road at around 3.19am.
He was ‘relatively central’ in the road. He was wearing a black jacket with a fluffy hood and black trousers.
Mr Tomlinson made two calls to mates, leaving one a voicemail asking for help. His friend described him as ‘very drunk, slurring his words’ and said he ‘did not know where he was’.
Mr Tomlinson had asked for his friend to call him a taxi, but he couldn’t as he didn’t know where he was. At approximately 4.40am, a neighbour ventured outside to defrost his vehicle.
He discovered Mr Tomlinson, who was ‘incoherent’ and ‘unresponsive’. His partner rang for an ambulance at 5.05am.
“In an awful twist of fate, the North West Ambulance Service had notified Greater Manchester Police, and neither of the two agencies could find the patient and never attended the scene,” Mr Hall said.
A separate investigation into the actions of the emergency services is ongoing. Mr Hall said: “It would appear the provided address wasn’t properly recorded and so the address provided to both agencies was incorrect. They attended at the wrong address and couldn’t find the right address.”
The brother-in-law of the woman who rang for an ambulance blocked the southern end of the street with his taxi, before Murphy emerged from her property. She was observed attempting to clear her windscreen for mere seconds at 5.44am.
“It was woefully inadequate,” Mr Hall added.
“When she reversed, she had practically no outward visibility from the driver’s seat.”
At 5.48am, she drove onto Pembroke Road, her Citroen DS3 headlights illuminating Mr Tomlinson in the carriageway.
She was then captured on CCTV driving forward, pausing momentarily in front of Mr Tomlinson before driving over him. She then reversed over his body, before driving over him again.
People were ‘waving their arms and shouting’ and the taxi driver nearby was sounding his horn. As they dialled 999, Murphy was recorded in the background saying: “I didn’t see him”.
“Sadly, Megan Murphy decided to deliberately lie to avoid responsibility for what she had done,” Mr Hall added. “In the 999 call that followed, she said she was leaving to drive the correct way on Pembroke Road.
“Three minutes after the collision, she walked away to make a phone call to a friend in which she claimed she had reversed over him – which was clearly not correct – and called him a smackhead.”
A friend encouraged her to make sure she had defrosted her windscreen properly or she would ‘get f***ed’ as he was ‘already on the floor in the way and because he is a crackhead’.
Murphy was then seen attempting to properly defrost her windscreen. A forensics officer visibility was still poor despite her attempts.
Mr Tomlinson was pronounced dead at the scene. A post mortem report found he had multiple bruises and abrasions to his body.
Mr Tomlinson’s mum Michelle said in a statement read in court: “Since the day I lost my son, it changed all our lives. It was the worst day of my life. Whilst Darryl was in the road, Megan Murphy decided to get in her car and not defrost it properly.
“I really don’t feel anything anymore since losing Darryl. If Megan Murphy had seen him or if the ambulance had done their job properly, then Darryl would still be here. I do feel the ambulance contributed to his death, but Megan Murphy was the one who took his life.”
Paul Tomlinson, affectionately known as ‘Tommy’, father of Mr Tomlinson, shared: “I have had many sleepless nights thinking about what he suffered. I wake up having these nightmares and feel like giving up on life.
“Sixteen months on, and my emotions are still the same as they were on that day. Nothing can make me understand why he wasn’t safe. I hold the ambulance service accountable for not finding him – but I hold the girl accountable for taking his life.
“He was not only my son but my working colleague and friend – I think about him every single day. The day I lost Darryl was the day I lost half of me.”
The case has been postponed until Wednesday (June 24), when Murphy will be sentenced.