A north Antrim man who was so out of it on a cocktail of drugs that he could barely stand, speak or stay awake when he caused a three-car crash has been jailed.

Sean McCullough had a “quite appalling” driving record and by choosing to get behind the wheel of his hire care that day, he had shown a “total disregard for the lives and safety of other road users”, Antrim Crown Court was told.

In the last two decades, he had been given 13 suspended sentences, having committed 28 offences.

McCullough, from Drumawillin Park in Ballycastle, had earlier entered guilty pleas to dangerous driving and driving on the Frosses Road while unfit through drink or drugs on 20 April last year.

The 56-year-old, who is also a convicted sex pest having slapped the backside of an EasyJet cabin crew member, had been due for sentencing last month but a warrant had to be issued for his arrest after he “took himself off to Portugal” to visit friends and family.

Today McCullough appeared at court by video link from Maghaberry Prison where Judge Alistair Devlin recounted how a man had been driving his Audi A4 estate along the Frosses Road, about a mile from the junction of the Drones Road and heading towards Ballymena, when he spotted a white Kia Sportage “swerving across the central line” as it came towards him.

He managed to take evasive action and avoided a head on collision but the movement of the Kia was such that it struck the driver’s side with such force the Audi estate was spun around 180 degrees.

Meanwhile, with McCullough at the wheel the Kia ploughed on and struck a silver Vauxhall Astra which had been behind the Audi before coming to rest on a grass verge.

All three vehicles were so extensively damaged they were all insurance write-offs and the people in the other cars sustained whiplash, neck and lower back injuries.

Police who arrived at the scene spoke to McCullough who was “slurring his words, struggling to stay awake and who was unable to walk unaided”.

Although he passed a preliminary breath test, a sample of his blood was sent for analysis.

That analysis revealed the presence of plethora of illicit and prescription drugs including cocaine, cannabis, pregabalin and diazepam.

McCullough himself had admitted he had been taking drink and drugs at a house party in Ballymena the night before and had only had an hour of sleep when his “morning began with a bottle of cider and cocaine before deciding to drive home to Ballycastle” later that same day.

While McCullough had exhibited “total disregard” for others on the road, the people in the cars he struck had been left having to undergo physiotherapy, suffering panic and anxiety attacks and having to take time off from work.

Judge Devlin said it was an example of McCullough’s driving record and attitude that amongst his convictions were multiple entries for dangerous driving, careless and reckless driving, five for drink driving, 10 for no insurance, eight for driving while banned and a multitude of other offences relating to lights, exhausts and bald tyres.

Indeed, the judge revealed that just four months after he caused a multiple crash on a notorious accident blackspot, the “main high speed arterial route between Belfast and the north coast,” McCullagh had been arrested for his 10th offence of no insurance.

“The threshold for custody has been well and truly crossed,” the judge said.

In addition to a 20-month jail sentence, of which he will serve half in jail and half on licence, Judge Devlin also imposed a five-year driving ban.

https://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/courts/drug-driver-and-sex-pest-who-caused-three-car-crash-in-north-antrim-jailed/a616867516.html