Cardiff crash: Survivor Shane Loughlin put behind bars for drink driving
St Mellons crash survivor Shane Loughlin has been remanded in prison for drink driving over the weekend, just days after appearing in court for other serious driving offences.
Loughlin was charged after officers from the South Wales Police Roads Policing Unit conducted a proactive stop in the Llandaff North area in the early hours Saturday, 2 September.
Loughlin, 32, was stopped by officers on Aberporth Road at around 4.20am and was arrested on suspicion of a number of driving offences.
He was charged with driving over the prescribed limit and driving while disqualified.
At a hearing at Cardiff Magistrates, Loughlin pleaded guilty to all the offences.
Loughlin was already on bail after a previous hearing on Tuesday 22nd August saw him admit to dangerous driving and driving while disqualified on the M4 in March
He had been driving a car hours before it was involved in a fatal crash in St Mellons. At the time of the crash he was a passenger and was not charged in relation to the collision that killed three people.
Police had previously found Loughlin's phone in the wrecked car which had four incriminating videos showing him driving along the M4 motorway with no hands on the wheel as he inhaled from a balloon.
The footage showed Loughlin filming himself as he drove between 80-90mph as he swerved between lanes.
He was handed an interim driving ban ahead of the scheduled appearance at court but he was arrested within 10 days.
In court today, Prosecutor Gregory Lloyd said:
"The defendant was bailed by the court and given an interim disqualification and 10 days later he was back behind the wheel not just as a disqualified driver but drunk."He remains a danger to the community. He knew the risk of driving and did anyway."
Loughlin's solicitor Neil Evans applied for him to be bailed ahead of sentence.He told the court as a result of injuries sustained in the crash Loughlin suffered from heart problems and needed further medical attention.But District Judge David Webster said he "feared Loughlin would commit further offences" if he were freed and "remanded him in custody" ahead of sentence later this month.He said: "There are substantial grounds for believing that if you are admitted to bail you will commit further offences and that no amount of bail conditions will provide an alternative safeguard - you will be remanded in custody."Loughlin, of Rumney, Cardiff, was remanded in custody and is due to be sentenced at Cardiff Crown Court for the other driving offences on 15 September.
He will be sentenced for September's offences at a later date.
Here is a timeline of the events..
04 March 2023: Loughlin was injured at a car crash in Cardiff which killed three people and injured another.
11 March 2023: Survivor Shane Loughlin made first statement from hospital as he learnt three others died in the St Mellons crash.
22 August 2023: Loughlin from Rumney, appeared in court charged with dangerous driving and driving while disqualified on the M4 at around 10pm on Friday 3 March. South Wales Police said the offences were not connected with the fatal collision which later happened at 2.03am on Saturday 4 March, but do involve the same vehicle. He admitted the offences
2 September 2023: Loughlin was charged with a number of driving offences after officers from the South Wales Police Roads Policing Unit conducted a proactive stop in the Llandaff North area in the early hours Saturday.
4 September 2023: Loughlin admitted to the offences of September 2nd and was was remanded in custody.
15 September 2023: Will be sentenced at Cardiff Crown Court for the other driving offences.
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