Eric Wansboro jailed for eight and a half years after fatal crash

This report is a localnews.ie summary based on public court reporting and records; sources are listed below.

Eric Wansboro was jailed for eight and a half years at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court on 18 May 2015, with Judge Mary Ellen Ring activating a previously suspended three-year sentence for driving a stolen car and imposing an additional five and a half years for the dangerous-driving offence.

He pleaded guilty to dangerous driving causing the death of Sinead Maguire and serious bodily harm to Liam McDonagh. The crash happened at Fairview, north Dublin, on 29 May 2014. The proceedings were reported on 18 May 2015.

The stolen-car offence occurred in December 2011. At sentencing in July 2013, Judge Ring imposed the three-year suspended sentence and disqualified Wansboro from driving for ten years. The combined prison sentence was backdated to January 2015, when he went into custody.

The court heard that Wansboro was driving a Toyota Avensis at speed while pursued by a garda patrol car. Gardaí had tried to stop him for tax and insurance checks. The car struck a tree and a lamp post at the junction of Malahide and Clontarf roads.

Defence counsel said Wansboro's aorta had to be rebuilt after the crash. The report said he also suffered frontal brain-lobe damage and had no recollection of the collision. Michael Bowman SC, defending, said Wansboro had accepted responsibility for the suffering and loss in a letter to the court.

Judge Ring said his letters made no reference to Liam McDonagh's injuries and only a short reference to Sinead Maguire. She gave limited mitigating weight to the guilty plea because Wansboro had been “caught red handed”.