Former Miss Liverpool avoided jail time and a driving ban after she crashed her Mercedes, left the scene, and reported the vehicle was stolen.
Victoria McInerney hit a set of traffic lights on a major route in the early morning hours, causing thousands of pounds worth of damage, before claiming falsely that a thief was at the wheel. She exclaimed with joy as she left court today, Tuesday, without having to answer for the event.
The proprietor of a pilates studio and sales director was also permitted to preserve her driver’s licence. The collision happened on Poulton Road in Wirral at approximately 4 am on January 21st, according to testimony presented before Liverpool Crown Court.
McInerney, from Netherton, told a taxi driver afterwards: ‘My boyfriend is going to kill me. Look what I’ve done to the car.’
The 38-year-old, who had ran for Miss England in 2003 when still a teenager and aspiring model and singer, however, fled the scene before police and paramedics arrived. She personally contacted the police at 9 a.m. to report that a burglary had resulted in the corporate car being stolen.
The “award-winning dancer” claimed to have spent the night at her ex-house boyfriend’s on adjacent Deveraux Drive. She claimed to have arrived just before 8 p.m. and left her car parked outside with the keys stashed near the unlocked front porch. She said that after going to bed at 11 p.m., she woke up to discover her automobile was gone.
But further investigations turned up CCTV footage of the crash, which was shown in court and showed McInerney getting out of the driver’s side door. She acknowledged fabricating the account when police visited the residence again that day around midday.
The driver said that while en route to a garage to buy smokes because she couldn’t sleep, she “lost control” of the vehicle. When it happened, McInerney of Manor Drive “panicked” because she “didn’t want to lose her job.”
The defendant’s attorney, Michael Scholes, informed the jury that his client is a family caregiver who has a history of both physical and mental health issues. He also described her as ‘hard-working, responsible and well thought of young woman’.
Mr Scholes added: ‘There was a significant degree of brain fog. The extremely bad decision taken is so out of character that it suggests there must have been other factors beyond simply wanting to avoid responsibility.
‘She is in a position to make reparations. It’s entirely reasonable to suggest she will not trouble the courts again and she has the potential for a productive future.
‘She is just the last person you would expect to see before the courts for this type of offence. Sometimes people make mistakes, and some mistakes have more serious consequences than others.’
McInerney, who has no prior convictions, was given a 12-month community order with 80 hours of unpaid work and a maximum 10-day requirement for rehabilitation activities after pleading guilty to perverting the course of justice and failing to stop after an accident. She received seven penalty points, but was permitted to continue driving after claiming “significant hardship” because of the effect that losing her driving privileges would have on her job.
Sentencing, Judge Louise Brandon said: ‘You deliberately provided false information to the police, and you did so in circumstances where you must have mulled it over before you did it. You caused valuable resources to be wasted when they could have been used elsewhere.
‘It’s clear you are someone who is held in high regard by anyone who knows you. You are of impeccable and positive good character.
‘You deeply regret what you did. In panic, you didn’t think through the consequences of your actions.
‘You have had time to reflect and taken responsibility. I accept there were other factors in play, and that it was not all about wanting to avoid responsibility.
‘Offences of this nature undermine the very nature of the criminal justice system.
‘But I very much doubt that we will be seeing you in this court again. You have never been before the courts before, and you don’t pose a risk to the public in my judgement.’
In addition, McInerney was ordered to pay £500 in court costs, £2,055 in compensation to Wirral Council, and a £95 victim surcharge.