Kevin McArdle sent back to jail for dangerous driving causing death

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

Kevin McArdle was sent back to jail for dangerous driving causing death by the Court of Criminal Appeal on 11 March 2014. The proceedings were reported on 11 March 2014.

The court substituted his earlier four-year sentence, with one year suspended, with six years’ imprisonment, suspending the final two years on the same Circuit Court terms. It ordered one further year in custody from 11 March 2014 and maintained a 12-year driving disqualification from the Circuit Court order.

The appeal court comprised Mr Justice Donal O’Donnell, Mr Justice Garrett Sheehan and Mr Justice Patrick McCarthy. The ruling followed its finding that the original sentence imposed at Monaghan Circuit Court in October 2011 was unduly lenient.

The report said McArdle had caused three deaths in a head-on collision on 27 December 2010 after drinking almost three-and-a-half times the legal limit and driving on the wrong side of the road. Michael Bowman BL, for the DPP, referred to the alcohol consumed, previous road-traffic convictions and limited insight described in a psychological report. Michael O’Higgins SC, for McArdle, described the crossing as a momentary lapse caused by excessive alcohol and said the report indicated genuine remorse and post-traumatic stress disorder.