Alan McDonagh: Rochdale teenager jailed for causing two fatal car crashes

A teenage car thief from Rochdale has been jailed for causing two fatal car accidents months apart.

Manchester Crown Court sentenced 19-year-old Alan McDonagh to nine years after he pleaded guilty to a string of offences, including causing death by driving whilst disqualified, unlicensed and uninsured, as well as aggravated vehicle taking causing death and causing death by dangerous driving.

The first incident took place on 5 January on Milnrow Road, Rochdale when McDonagh was seen speeding and overtaking in a Skoda Superb before crashing into a 50-year-old man.

The car, which had false number plates, had been stolen the day before from Royle Barn Road.

The man was taken to hospital but died from his injuries.

McDonagh sped away with his accomplice, 32-year-old Patrick Doran, and the pair abandoned the car on Percy Street.

Officers from the Serious Collision Investigation Unit (SCIU) detained the then-18-year-old the next day after finding samples of his DNA in the stolen Skoda, but he denied involvement.

Doran was also arrested and was charged with aggravated vehicle taking causing death.

Second fatal crash

The second incident happened just two months later on 20 March, while McDonagh was on bail for the first incident and disqualified from driving.

McDonagh, this time driving his friend’s BMW 318, failed to pull over for police when they spotted them driving suspiciously slowly.

After a short chase towards Heywood at high speed, McDonagh lost control of the car and smashed into the central barrier, another car and a building.

McDonagh and his friend were both flung from the car and taken to hospital, where his friend later died.

Police arrested him once he was fit enough to be put in custody.

McDonagh, from Rochdale, pleaded guilty to all offences at Manchester Crown Court on 29 September and was sentenced to nine years.

Doran, of Croxton Avenue, Rochdale, who was found guilty of vehicle taking in an aggravated manner causing death, has also been jailed for five years.

SCIU Sergeant Andrew Page, said: “It is difficult to comprehend the impact of Alan McDonagh’s and Patrick Doran’s reckless and ultimately fatal actions, as they have destroyed not one but two families’ lives.

“They not only showed no regard for anyone but themselves during either incident, but they have since offered nothing in the way of genuine remorse or compassion for their inexcusable actions.

“It’s a sad but very real part of our job that we often see the devastating impact of criminally dangerous behaviour on our roads, but these tragic events would largely be avoidable if everyone took extra care for those around them who are also wanting to use our streets safely.

“Offenders like McDonagh and Doran are exactly the reason we are doing so much more proactive work to ensure that Greater Manchester’s roads are safer for us all by tackling dangerous, disqualified, uninsured drivers so that fewer families have to receive the most terrible news that their loved one’s life has been so cruelly taken away.”