NEWS
Rose Slowe prosecutes much publicised child cruelty and dangerous driving case.
Rose Slowe prosecuted a highly unusual case of child cruelty arising from a sustained episode of dangerous driving
During the afternoon of Wednesday 29 December 2021, multiple road users witnessed a Mercedes SUV driving dangerously on the M40 motorway between Oxford and London; speeding on the hard shoulder and swerving across different lanes of traffic while undertaking and overtaking numerous vehicles. The Mercedes ultimately glanced the hard shoulder barrier and spun across all the lanes of oncoming traffic until it struck the central barrier and ended up facing the wrong way.
Despite having lost a tyre in the collision, the Mercedes turned around and sped off for another half a mile before coming to its ultimate resting spot on the hard shoulder. Mr Connors was seen urinating by the side of the car while his 9-year-old son scrambled up the steep embankment on the side of the motorway, with Mr Connors then following him.
Police conducted a vehicle search of the area. A police helicopter was dispatched, and a police dog tracked from the vehicle up the embankment. Both the helicopter and search dog ultimately led directly to the same location a short distance away, where Mr Connors was found highly intoxicated and vomiting on the roadside while his son cried hysterically and was shivering. Both were covered in mud.
Mr Connors denied being the vehicle driver in his police interview under caution and at trial.
Following a four-day trial before Oxford Crown Court, Miley Connors was unanimously convicted of offences of cruelty to a child and dangerous driving.
Press Coverage:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/uk-england-oxfordshire-68835711
https://news.sky.com/story/man-who-drove-at-over-100mph-down-m40-hard-shoulder-sentenced-13117049
https://metro.co.uk/2024/04/17/drunk-driver-crashes-driving-100mph-hard-shoulder-child-car-20665299/