Lee Bardy: been to party

A York woman who allegedly drove off after a fatal hit-and-run collision told police she should not have been driving.

The jury at Doncaster Crown Court heard that Beverley Scanlon rang York police just before noon on June 6, 1998, to report the incident.

Reading out details of the telephone conversation, Andrew Dallas, prosecuting, quoted Scanlon as saying: "I had had a drink and should not have been driving."

Police recorded her as being very upset and continually asking if "they were all right".

Lee Bardy, 18, died as a result of the collision in Clarence Street, central York, at 1.30am that day. His friend Duncan Haines, then 17, broke a leg and suffered back and other injuries.

Scanlon, 36, of Eastfield Avenue, Haxby, denies causing death by dangerous driving and causing death by careless driving whilst unfit through drink.

The jury heard that young people with the two victims shouted at Scanlon's car to stop, but she drove off.

Forensic scientist Gordon McKinley alleged that he calculated she had had a breath reading of about 42 mcg in 100 millilitres of breath at the time of the collision.

The legal limit is 35.

He based his calculations on Scanlon's own account to police that she had had about eight half pints of lager and a glass of champagne. But he could not say definitely whether she was over or under the limit because his answer was only an estimate.

The jury heard that a breath test taken at about noon was negative.

Mr McKinley also alleged that he took several hundred fragments of glass from Mr Bardy's jacket.

They matched the glass that formed the windscreen of her Fiat Cinquecento car. Fibres matching the jacket were also found on her car.

He found 70 similar glass fragments in Mr Haines's jacket.

The jury saw pictures of an "impact smear" which ran horizontally across the back of Mr Haines's jacket.

Mr McKinley claimed it was made by black nylon which could have come from the Fiat's wing mirror.

Earlier, Nicholas Barratt, from York, alleged in evidence that he and his best mates, the two victims, were part of a group of about 15 people making their way home along Clarence Street, in the early hours, after a party.

They were happy, laughing and chatting.

He had had about five-and-a-half pints of lager during the preceding evening. Mr Haines was immediately next to him and Mr Bardy behind him as they were at the entrance to the Union Terrace car park.

"I heard a loud bang behind me," he alleged.

"As I turned around, Duncan was taken from the side of me and Lee was hit".

He said that he did not see Mr Bardy actually hit but he did see him on the ground immediately afterwards.

As he turned round, he saw the back of a car so close to him that he thought it was going to hit him and he closed his eyes.

When he reopened them he alleged he saw the car in the entrance of the car park. It then went back into Clarence Street and drove off "at some speed".

In a statement, made on June 8, 1998, he claimed he was still upset greatly by the incident because the two men were his "best friends".

The trial continues.

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