A hit-and-run lady driver who killed a cyclist and collided with a taxi now faces jail time and a driving ban, and loses her licence and the chance of getting low cost car insurance for women.
Ruth Ellis, 36, had been drinking at the Leggers Inn in Dewsbury before the crashes in September 2005. She had not intended to drive, but after getting into a fight with her husband she left for home in the couple's VW Golf.
Witnesses said Ellis was swerving "all over the road" when she ran into the cyclist, Adrian Stephen Allen. Knocked clear off the bike, Allen landed first on the car's bonnet, shattering the windscreen, and ended up on the kerbside.
Allen, who was killed almost instantly from multiple injuries, had been riding home after attending a meeting at the Dewsbury Spiritualist Centre.
Ellis stopped briefly, but didn't get out. Instead, she carried on up the road, and straight into another collision - this time with the wing mirror of a taxi she was attempting to overtake.
Ignoring the resulting loud bang, the now frantic Ellis drove on before stalling the VW at a junction. The taxi driver, who had followed flashing his lights and sounding the horn in the vain hope of exchanging car insurance policy details, got out and approached the car.
He opened the driver's side door and Ellis, all the while struggling to start the battered Golf, admitted fault in crashing into the taxi. The taxi driver took note of her number plate and then watched as she sped off into the night.
Ellis drove the remaining mile home without further dangerous incident, although other witnesses reported seeing the VW mounting the pavement and veering into a grass verge. When the police paid her a visit shortly afterward, Ellis refused to give a sample for blood/alcohol levels.
In court, she admitted causing Allan's death by dangerous driving and failing to cooperate with police. Magistrates sentenced her to four years in jail, and a five-year driving ban.
She will need to pass an extended driving test before getting back behind the wheel - and with a conviction like this one, you can bet Ellis will have to save up a small fortune for her motor insurance premiums, even if she gets cheap car insurance for women.
Lee-Anne Bass, spokesperson for the cheap women's car insurance experts at CoverGirl, said "That must have been quite some argument she had with her husband.
"Ruth Ellis will spend the next five years regretting that night. It's a powerful reminder for us all not to drink and drive, whatever the circumstances."