Drunk BMW driver killed 77-year-old after four-day binge
08.03.2024 - 17:36
/ manchestereveningnews.co.uk
A drunk BMW driver mowed down and killed a ‘fit and healthy’ 77-year-old man following a four-day binge. Tom Ferguson was staying at the Premier Inn hotel in Stockport when staff told him to leave because of his intoxicated behaviour.
They found nine empty bottles of Captain Morgan’s rum in his room. After leaving the hotel, on the A6 Buxton Road, 29-year-old Ferguson was seen staggering into his white BMW 1 Series before driving away.
Moments later, as and his wife were walking back to their car after a hospital appointment, Ferguson mounted the pavement and hit the beloved husband.
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Ferguson drove off, chased by a member of the public, before crashing into a lamppost nearby. He pleaded guilty to causing death by dangerous driving; driving without insurance; driving while uninsured; and failing to stop after a road accident.
Ferguson was jailed for 12 years at Minshull Street Crown Court on Friday (March 8). Prosecuting, Harriet Tighe earlier told the court the hotel manager at Premier Inn told Ferguson he could not stay due to his ‘disruptive behaviour’.
She went to his room to check he was going to leave and found him lying on the bed in his boxers, surrounded by empty bottles of booze. When he came round, he went to reception wearing untied trainers and told the woman: “I’m leaving now.”
Staff went to make sure he had not gone to his car as they thought he was drunk. Other guests saw him stumbling around the carpark. In CCTV footage, he was seen ‘not walking in a straight line’. He then got into the driver's seat and left, clipping a fence on the way out.
Meanwhile, Mr Palmer and his wife Margaret were walking to the car park at Sainsburys