Banned driver who ploughed into elderly couple five years ago has suspended sentence reactivated after being caught dangerous driving again

Isabel Hayes

A disqualified driver who ploughed into the car of an elderly couple five years ago has had a suspended sentence reactivated after he again engaged in dangerous driving just months after his release from prison.

Brian Reilly (29) ruined the lives of John and Ellen Armstrong after he crashed into their car as they were stopped at a red light in Finglas in January 2020, Dublin Circuit Criminal Court heard in 2021.

Judge Melanie Greally (now a High Court judge) sentenced Reilly to seven and a half years' imprisonment, but suspended the final 18 months on a number of conditions. She disqualified him from driving for life.

At the time, Reilly, a disqualified driver with 126 previous convictions, was trying to evade gardaí after he was stopped and asked for his driving licence. He had been released from jail just six weeks prior to the incident after serving a sentence for offences including endangerment, the court heard.

Today (Tuesday), Reilly again appeared before Dublin Circuit Criminal Court after being jailed for five years by a Trim Circuit Criminal Court judge earlier this year for a further slew of dangerous driving offences in Co Meath on November 22, 2024 which culminated in Reilly crashing into a car containing a woman, her two children and her elderly mother.

Garda Pat Muldowney told Diana Stuart BL, prosecuting, that Reilly had been released from custody just four months earlier in July 2024.

The matter was brought before the court for Judge Orla Crowe to consider reactivating the 18-month suspended sentence handed down by Judge Greally in 2021, as Reilly had breached the conditions of that suspension.

Briefly outlining the Meath offence, Gda Muldowney said he was on patrol on the day in question when gardaí were alerted to an incident involving a car Reilly was driving. When gardaí tried to engage with him, Reilly sped off, ramming the patrol car and another nine cars in his path.

A 30 minute pursuit ensued, during which Reilly was seen driving dangerously through a number of townlands in the county. It culminated in him colliding with the car containing the children. The grandmother in that car sustained a broken wrist.

Reilly, of Tailteann Drive, Navan, Co Meath, pleaded guilty to 10 counts of dangerous driving, along with four counts of endangerment and a number of criminal damage offences.

Gda Muldowney told the court that in his 23 years of service, “this pursuit is one of the worst I have ever been involved in.”

Keith Spencer BL, defending Reilly, urged Judge Orla Crowe not to reactivate the 18-month suspended sentence, arguing that Judge John Martin was aware of Reilly's previous convictions when he sentenced him in Trim.

The court heard Judge Martin handed down a six and a half year sentence with the final 18 months suspended. Defence counsel submitted that if Judge Crowe reactivated the suspended sentence, Reilly would lose the opportunity to be monitored in the community by the Probation Service.

Judge Crowe rejected this submission, saying the matters before the court were “too serious”. She noted that within a matter of months of his release from custody, Reilly had again embarked in endangerment offences on the road.

She said she would reactivate 12 months of the 18-month sentence, meaning Reilly would still have a six month suspended sentence in place. She ordered him to remain under the supervision of the Probation Service for two years as a condition of this suspended sentence.

However, Reilly refused to enter the bond in court. As a result, Judge Crowe ordered that the 18 month suspended sentence be activated in its entirety. It means Reilly will serve a further 18 months in addition to the sentence he is currently serving.

Judge Crowe gave defence counsel leave to mention the matter again if required.

Additional Evidence

The court previously heard that one of Reilly's victims from his 2020 offending, Ellen Armstrong, suffered significant injuries and had to have the tip of her thumb amputated in the wake of the crash, which left her dependent on others for care, the court heard.

Reilly pleaded guilty to two counts of endangerment, one count of dangerous driving causing serious bodily harm to Ellen Armstrong, one count of refusing to provide a blood or urine sample and one count of driving without insurance on January 29, 2020.

Sentencing him, Judge Greally said that Reilly “exposed four separate drivers to risk of death or serious harm” on the day in question.

“In the case of Mrs Armstrong, he inflicted a life-long episode of pain and loss of independence and loss of of the pursuits she enjoyed so much,” she said.

Garda Kieran Moloney told the court that a garda approached Reilly's car at a garage on the North Road in Finglas, after he noticed Reilly and two other occupants of the car were acting suspiciously.

When asked for his licence, Reilly took off at speed, going the wrong way around a roundabout before joining the M50.

During the pursuit, which gardaí had to abandon as it was too dangerous, Reilly drove down the wrong side of the M50 in the hard shoulder before driving down the wrong side of the N2.

He clipped one car while swerving across lanes on the M50 and reversed into another car at the Ballymun slip road. The incident came to an end when he crashed into a van at Kilshane Cross.

This collision sent his car crashing into the Armstrongs, who were stopped at a red light. Their car then crashed into a tree.

Reilly fled the scene and was found by gardaí hiding behind a nearby bush. When taken to James Connolly Memorial Hospital, he refused to provide a blood or urine sample to ascertain whether he was intoxicated, the court heard.

Ellen Armstrong suffered multiple rib fractures and other injuries in the crash, the court heard. She had to have the tip of her right thumb amputated and now needs help washing, getting dressed and performing basic household tasks, according to her victim impact report.

Her husband John Armstrong still suffers pain on a daily basis since the incident. He suffered a head wound and had a seizure in the wake of the crash.

The couple feel they have “little left to live for” now that their independence and daily activities, such as going for walks and shopping, have been taken away from them, the court heard.

Mr Spencer, again defending, handed up a letter of apology to the Armstrongs but the court heard they did not wish to receive it at present.

Mr Spencer said his client had “panicked” when pulled over by gardaí. The court heard Reilly has spent much of his life in and out of prison and has a drug addiction. He is one of a large Traveller family and received a limited education.

Almost half of Reilly's previous convictions are for road traffic offences, including six for dangerous driving, nine for driving without a licence and eight for driving without insurance.

“He has directly caused adversity and harm to two individuals who were expecting a comfortable retirement,” Mr Spencer said, adding Reilly was extremely remorseful.

Judge Greally accepted Reilly was genuinely remorseful and she noted he had a “less than ideal start in life”. But she said he must face a lengthy prison sentence given the seriousness of his offending.

“These are two elderly people whose lives have been ruined because of the actions of the accused, who was disqualified from driving at the time,” the judge said.