THE stolen Audi driven by Daniel O'Riordan was travelling at more than twice the speed limit when it crashed into George Campbell's car.

The court heard that the 64year-old was most likely 'killed instantly' in the collision, as there was no evidence of the brakes in his car having been applied at all.

Garda PSV Inspector, Sgt James Walsh gave evidence that he analysed the crash scene. The accident had taken place in the Dundalk bound lane of the road, which was the wrong side of the road for the car driven by George Campbell.

There had been a 'front to front' collision, which he found had happened 'at some speed' although he found that the Megane was travelling 'at little or no speed.'

Tyre marks on the road also showed that the Audi had braked for almost 60 metres before the crash happened.

An expert road accident investigator, Sgt Walsh told the jury that from his analysis of the crashed cars, and marks on the road after the accident, he was able to estimate what speed both vehicles were travelling.

He found the Audi was moving at 131km per hour, which is more than twice the speed limit on that stretch of road – 60km per hour.

Sgt Walsh said that although the front wheels of George Campbell's car were in the wrong lane, as he manoeuvred to drive in through his gate, the driver of the Audi should have had no difficulty in seeing the Renault Megane.

He said that when Mr Campbell saw the Audi coming in the opposite direction, he would have had around six seconds to complete his turn into his house – but only if the Audi was travelling within the speed limit.

'But because of the speed the Audi was travelling he had less than three seconds to complete that manoeuvre which could explain why he was on the incorrect side of the road,' said Sgt Walsh.

He added that Daniel O'Riordan had said in a statement to gardaí that he saw a car ahead, and that he dipped his headlights and flashed his lights. This was evidence that he had adequate time to react to avoid a collision when he saw the Renault Megane.

However, the maximum speed at which O'Riordan would have been able to safely stop was 73kph. He was in fact going at well over 100kph.