'Tell me if she's alive', coward begs police after leaving mum to die in the road
04.11.2023 - 10:51
/ manchestereveningnews.co.uk
A van driver left his friend in the road to die after a horror crash as he rushed to dispose of three bags of cocaine, before begging police to tell him 'is she alive'.
Ashley Dean, 40, downed six pints and sniffed a line of cocaine to 'sober up' before smashing his car after getting behind the wheel on March 23 last year. In his passenger seat was beloved mum-of-two Lisa Birtwistle, who suffered serious injuries after she was thrown from the vehicle.
As a passer-by rushed to help Lisa, Dean phoned his wife and disposed of three bags of cocaine in an alley close to the collision on Blackpool Road, Poulton, reports LancsLive. Lisa was pronounced dead later that night.
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Footage released by Lancashire Police shows Dean in the back of a police van being asked to blow into a breathalyser. Before he does so, Dean turns to the officers and says: "At least tell me if she's alive".
Officers tell Dean that they cannot confirm that information. He is later arrested for death by dangerous driving, at which point Dean put his face in his hands.
A passing motorist stopped to help Lisa, calling 999 and administering CPR until the paramedics arrived. Dean, of Argyll Road, Poulton, has now been jailed for nine years and five months for causing death by dangerous driving and causing death while driving without insurance. Judge Ian Unsworth, sentencing, said: “You did nothing to help her.”
Peter Barr, prosecuting, told Preston Crown Court that on March 23, Dean had parked in the carpark of the Castle Gardens pub shortly after 4pm. He