Cardiff crash victims ‘had been drinking and inhaling nitrous oxide’, court papers show

Claims about the five involved in the fatal crash in March emerged at court case of a sixth member of the group

The occupants of a car which crashed, killing three people, had been drinking and inhaling nitrous oxide, a friend told police.

Driver Rafel Jeanne, 24, and passengers Darcy Ross, 21, and Eve Smith, 21, died in the crash, while two other passengers, Sophie Russon, 20, and Shane Loughlin, 32, were injured but survived.

The accident happened on the A48(M) near the St Mellons area of Cardiff at 2.03am on Saturday 4 March this year when a Volkswagen Tiguan veered off a slip road approaching a roundabout and came to rest in a small area of trees.

The occupants’ relatives had reported them missing but the five were not discovered until the following Monday, about 46 hours after the crash.

The length of time taken by Gwent police and South Wales police to find the group is the subject of an investigation by the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC).

The group had been on a night out at a club in Newport before driving nearly 40 miles to a caravan park in Porthcawl, where they were said to have spent some time in one of the caravans.

The details of the accident came out in a behind-closed-doors hearing for a sixth member of the group who had driven the car earlier in the night.

Joel Lia, 28, was charged with driving without a licence or insurance after being at the wheel in Porthcawl an hour before the crash. He was dropped off at home in Cardiff at about 2am, shortly before the accident.

He said the group had been drinking alcohol and inhaling nitrous oxide, commonly known as laughing gas, according to court papers.

Lia’s case is being tried under the controversial single justice procedure, where magistrates handle non-custodial criminal prosecutions in private rather than open court. The details are public only because the PA news agency applied for the prosecution documents.

Lia gave a witness statement where he admitted driving the car earlier that night without a licence. This was confirmed on CCTV at a petrol station in Porthcawl where Lia was seen getting into the driver’s seat and pulling out.

Police documents state: “All other persons in the vehicle were intoxicated, by Joel’s admission, as they had been drinking alcohol and inhaling nitrous oxide throughout the course of the evening.

“The vehicle did not display L plates which can be seen on CCTV. The officer in the case has reviewed the CCTV as part of this unrelated case and can positively identify Joel Lia as the person entering the driver’s seat.”

Lia pleaded guilty to both charges and the case was adjourned until 24 August.

An initial inquest heard that the three who died were declared dead at the scene of the crash. The hearing was adjourned to await the findings of further histology and toxicology tests.